Hell run

This is going to be a whiny and relatively inconsequential post.

So after getting over being sick, I finally got to start running again. I had taken off about 5 days from running. I know that's not a lot, but when you're a runner it is. I was just so damn itchy to get back out there. I ran Thursday, awesome! Then Saturday decided to go out for a long run (13.1 mile). It's been warm here, so I was going to run outside. I should clarify that "warm here" means "warm" in the Frozen North. So our warm is anything over freezing. We had a whole month where it was NEVER over freezing, so I ran indoors the whole time. So Saturday was going to be a big day - get to do a long run, get to do it outside! You have no idea how boring 15 miles is when you do it 10 laps to a mile on an indoor track. Imagine it. It's more boring than that. Believe me.

So I go out Saturday, feeling confident. First thing I notice is a whole lot of ice on the side walks. You see our town sucks in that they don't do a good job plowing the side walks. They plow the roads, which throws a lot of snow on the side walks, and then they half ass the side walks. So when it warms up, they start to melt, then refreeze at night, and you get big sheets of ice. Which I had forgotten about when I made my plans. So I'm running on ice. Great. Slight crimp in the running, but I'm still positive here. I've run on ice many times, I live in the Frozen North.

About a mile in I notice my leg is hurting, right below my calf. I don't really pay any attention - aches and pains are part of a run. About 2.5 miles in I notice that it's getting worse, not better. I slow down a bit, which seems to help, decide to stick it out. 4 miles in I get this sudden twisting pain that was severe enough I literally swore outloud (pretty loud outloud too) and had to stop. Well @#!$. I try to run a few more steps and it's just no way. Hurts too much. Even walking hurts a bit but running? Forget it.

Now this poses a problem because I'm 2.5 miles away from home (I do a circle thing in there so I'm never more than 2.5 miles away from the house). I mentioned that it was warm, but remember warm in this case is just over freezing, and with windchill it's under freezing, and I'm wearing a light jacket that is damp, a light shirt that is damp, and a hat. This is truly fine for running, because you generate so much body heat you don't need much in 32 degree weather. It's NOT fine, as it turns out, for hobbling home. A good 40 minutes later a very cold, very sore, very grumpy me gets home, with 4 miles of running and 2.5 miles of walking under my belt instead of 13.1 miles of good ol' fashioned running.

Now I had a lot of thoughts on my walk back. The first was I should have brought a cell phone. The next was that running gear really isn't all that warm when you're not running (I had that thought many times). The next was that if this had happened on a cold day, say when it's 0 degrees, I could have been in real trouble. Because when it gets below zero if you're outside in wet clothes for too long you get stuff like frostbite. If it's 20 below, you could die. No crap. Now granted, the whole reason I was running outside was because it wasn't 0, but I've run in 0 and below weather before and this really made me think. So overall I'm lucky, I guess.

Only I'm not feeling very lucky because now I'm not going to be running for somewhere between 1 and 7 weeks, depending on how long this takes to heal, and if 5 DAYS seems bad, let's try 5 WEEKS.

So I apologize for this post - I really do. One thing a blog can be is a kind of diary where you just get your emotions out and bla bla bla. And to my mind that kind of sucks, because why would everyone want to read your diary? There's a reason your diary is private - nobody else wants to see it! I've been thinking a lot about what a blog can be, and what I'd want one to be, and I think at its heart it has to be somehow useful or entertaining. Whining does not meet those criteria. So if I turn my part of this blog into a whiny diary I think I will have failed at this. I guess the only reason I'm going to post it is that the few people I suspect may read this know me and will at least give it a sympathetic read - so thank you. And don't worry, I promise that this type of post will not be popping up in the future.