Injury Concern on an Easy Day

I consider myself a pretty experienced distance runner, but I haven't really had any experience with injuries in my career.  Obviously, that's a good thing, and I think I can credit my constant stretching as a big reason for that.  I was worried about my left leg before today's run and sought out a second opinion.  Brandon Hillis told me if the pain was concentrated in one area then it could be a stress fracture, which is the last thing I want.  If the pain felt as if it went all the way down my lower leg then it could just be shin splints but I honestly couldn't tell where exactly the pain was.  I knew that bending my foot back hard and holding it for at least forty seconds always made me feel a lot better, so it seems to just be some stiffness in the shin and ankle area.  The fact that it always hurts more after a couple days off adds weight to that theory.

I told Brandon I had an easy run on the schedule and I would either turn around or keep going based on how things felt early in the run.  I am pleased to report that my left leg bothered me for the first 100 meters or so but that's the only time it really hurt, and I didn't notice it all after about 25 minutes.  I also ran seven miles in 7:16 pace even though I felt like I was running really easy. 

So, there we have it.  We're chalking the left leg situation up to stiffness and a strained muscle until further notice, and it should be fine as long as I keep stretching it a bit.  Part of the reason I was so concerned is that things have been going well and I'm so close*.... As previously stated I am also in the meat grinder for that moment and am dealing with other aches and pains as well; if I can just run through them for another ten days I'll be able to rest and get fresh in time for the race.**

*So close to what?
**What race?

-Details coming soon!

Re-united....

The coolest thing about my renewed desire to run competitively is how I have been able to reconnect with old friends - such as Eggers and Oelz - and meet new ones, like David Brinkley.  This past Saturday, I met up with Brandon Hillis, an old friend from UNCW, for a long run all over Dilworth and Charlotte.

I followed Brandon from the Charlotte Running Company parking lot on East Boulevard through the Queens Road neighborhoods, then back through the center of uptown (Did we ever really decide what to call Charlotte's center city?  Uptown?  Downtown?  Funkytown?  I'll never get it.) on Providence Road.  This was pretty neat because we saw a lot of the competitors from the "Hit the Brixx" 5K/10K cooling down, hanging out, and milling about.  (This is where I would post a link to that race's website, because it's one of the better ones in the area, but the meet organizers still haven't posted results.  It's only been 4 days.  Geez.)

Brandon and I exchanged workout and training plans and talked about what some of our old friends were now doing.  He was no doubt a bigger help to me than I could be to him, seeing as how he has already done a marathon before and I'm about to attempt my first one (yeah that's right...details forthcoming).  He encouraged me to lower my goals for the race, which is probably a good idea, on the grounds that the marathon "is just a whole new world."  Alrighty, then.  Sounds like good advice; I haven't figured out what my goals really are but I guess I'll just focus on getting faster and preventing injuries for now.  We wrapped up a 14-miler by looping through Freedom Park and checking out the scenes from the Festival in the Park.  Brandon did 6 before I met him, so it was actually a 20-miler for him.  I suppose I'll get there soon.  That distance still seems awfully tough but it seems alot more doable now than I would have thought a month or so ago.  I ran my 14 at just under 8-minute pace.