December 28, 2009 By lisa
I have not been listening to my body and what it has been trying to tell me for the last few weeks.
Sometime between Thanksgiving and now, my lower right calf muscle/area has been bothering me during my runs and afterwards. I chocked it up to all kinds of different excuses- my body was already tired, I didn’t stretch enough, I pushed myself too hard, my muscles are supposed to hurt, yada yada yada.
Well, going into today’s run, I knew I didn’t “feel right” but I forged ahead anyway. Prior to running, I did talk to one of the running instructors at the gym and she gave me some good stretching exercises to try and suggested that I needed to up my strength training, that maybe my calf muscles needed more strength and so on and so forth.
So yeah, I talked to her and then I headed to the trail with my friend Amanda. We stretched SO MUCH before and during and I seriously thought I might die. I actually broke into a sweat when stretching my right leg. No, the running didn’t make me sweat but the stretching did. How weird is that? We ran at a VERY slow pace and I tried not to favor my bum leg, but by 1.5 miles, I couldn’t run on it anymore.
IT HURT TOO MUCH.
I made a decision right then and there. I HAVE TO rest my leg and not run for a little while. I have to let it heal. I need to figure out what is going on with it and what I need to do to strengthen it or whatever so that I can run again.
Because ya’ll, I am running a 1/2 marathon in San Diego in June. There is still plenty of time to train, I’m not worried about that. I am worried about my leg and I want it to get better, like yesterday. I don’t want to hurt it to the point of no return.
A part of me is SO EFFING ANGRY. I am so mad at my body for betraying me. In my head and in my heart, I feel so strong and like I can do anything. Why the hell is my body not cooperating? I understand that I am 37 years old- I will be 38 in May. I do get that my body is NOT the same as it was when I was 24 years old. I get that…… but, I want it to be.
I want my body to catch up to where I am in my soul.
But for now, I rest and heal and learn as much as I can about muscles and cardio work and strength training and how it all interrelates together can anyone point me in the right direction?.
I will get stronger. I will get better. I will run again.
This much I know is true.