Timeline of events for my lower left leg:
August 24th: I ran several miles down a (paved) steep incline from the La Luz trailhead and felt the first whisperings of someting going on near my left ankle. Not a pain, really. Kind of a nerve twinge. Week of August25th: Tapering. Two short runs, one of which was intervals. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Rest some more.
August 31st: New Mexico marathon. After running six miles down Tramway Blvd. at a pretty moderate pace, my left lower leg hurt like hell, on the outside, down near the ankle. Went away pretty soon after I finished. Week of September 1st: recovery, and I noticed a faint twinge up above my ankle from time to time. It was like a sudden weakness where I felt like it might give out, more than it was pain. Otherwise, feels pretty good.
September 6th: I decide to bag the Cotton Country Sprint.
September 12, 13: I have three good legs at the Colorado Relay. After the last leg, though, where I descend 900 paved feet in 3 miles, the leg is not happy. Aching, hurting. The pain is wrapping itself around to the front now. Week of September 15th: Resting, no running.
September 21: Trail run on La Luz. New shoes. Leg feels great and stops hurting. I gain a false sense of security.
September 24th: A hard run on pavement and sidewalk over 5 miles of hills in Rio Rancho. Pain. Lots of pain. The last half is nearly impossible to run. For the rest of the week, pain when walking, even, although it's much less. Running is next to impossible. I note, after some experimenting, that the pain comes when I'm flexing my foot, not merely from putting weight on it, so I'm about 99% sure it's not a stress fracture. I think I have a seriously pissed-off tendon.
See the pattern? i sure do. NO MORE DOWNHILL RUNNING ON PAVEMENT!!
September 27th: I bag the Elf Butt Oly, and make an appointment with my doc. And hope the xrays are negative. And try not to eat too much, because I'll only be cycling and goodness knows how much I LOVE cycling, she said in a sarcastic tone and swimming for the next 3.5 weeks, along with icing and compressing. The plan is to see the doc on Monday and follow up in 2 weeks with a cortisone shot if I need it. I mutter my favorite curse-word phrase: Sh**!PI**!FU**!DA**!!!!!!
Next up on the calendar: the 50k at Palo Duro on October 18th, at which point I will no longer be running on roads. Trails only!
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