Still A Runner

Well, the good news is that they won't have to amputate...

"...yet" (Geoff added with a grin).

I woke up Tuesday with significantly less pain in my ankle after a night of heating and stretching but it was still there.  I had to be on my feet most of Tuesday because I was teaching a class so things were pretty tender by the time I hobbled in to see Geoff.

After describing the pain, moving my ankle in all sorts of directions and answering a barrage of questions - it turns out that I have a mild strain of my tibialis posterior muscle.

Mild??

Here's hoping I don't ever experience the severe version.

Apparently, a bad step during a run can be enough to cause the strain.  I ran 30k which, according to my best wild ass guess, is around 40,000 steps.  I conceded that I may perhaps have taken a misstep or two during the 3 1/2 hours I was out there.

Anyway, so I have a strained tibialis posterior.  Hearing that prompted me to research this new body part and how it works. Not that it's new.  I'm just more acutely aware of it than I was, say, last week. The tibialis posterior's job is to help stabilize the arch, help the calf muscles push the foot down (during the 'toe off' part of running) and turn the foot inward.  It's the red muscle in the picture below.

The muscle runs down the back of my calf and ends at my ankle.  That would explain the hard tennis ball-like mass of muscles I felt in my upper calf and the pain I felt in my ankle.  I am, according to my ten minutes of post-diagnosis research, a classic sprain case. 

So, Geoff lovingly ripped the hell out of my calf until things loosened up.  I am proud to say that I kept up my end of the conversation without missing a beat and did not shed one tear.  But wow that's a whole different kind of agony. I got off the bed in more pain than when I lay down but I could tell it was a different pain.  The ankle still hurts but the calf is much better. Geoff said that the pain is usually pretty dramatic at the beginning but goes away pretty quickly if treated.  

The bruises started before I left the office.

I spent the night confined to the couch heating my calf and icing my ankle. That would be one of the more unglamourous aspects of running. I tried to spice it up a bit with a glass of wine and homemade date squares.

I am supposed to run 30 minutes tonight and see how it feels.  I see Geoff again on Thursday and, if he gives the ok, my shins will be taped and I will run my 35k run on Saturday as planned.  If not, well, we'll take it one day at a time I guess. 

So the good news is that I don't have to be put down.  

Lose a leg. 

Wear a cast. 

Take up water running.    

Drop out of the marathon.

I just have to heat and stretch.  Heat and stretch.

I can deal with that.