No News is .....

not necessarily good news, always.

The injury bug has once again reared up and bit me, this time in my lower leg in the Achilles tendon area. It happened Sunday morning, while I was on a long run. I had started at the Shelby Bottoms trail head and wanted to run to Kohl’s on the Nashville Stones River greenway. I didn’t realize that it was super hilly, but hills really do not bother me, so I was in good spirits all the way to Kohl’s, which is 8 miles.

The Achilles was bothering me some as I was navigating some of the hills on the way out, and I had stopped and stretched once or twice. The thought even entered my mind to stop and go back around mile 4, but I realize that my opportunities of getting these 16 and 20 mile runs in are getting shorter. So I went on. BIG MISTAKE.

On the way back, I walked up the super steep hill leading to the elementary school right before Two Rivers golf course, and it felt like a rock hit my calf. I knew that a rock had not hit me, and it had to be the tendon getting stretched. My biggest problem was that I was 5 miles from the car, and starting to limp. So for the next 2 hours, I alternated walking, stopping, walking, hobbling, and stopping, etc the 5 miles back to the car.

4 hours later I get back home, and Steph is crazy worried. Now, 3 days later, I’m still resting and messaging as best as possible. I’ve learned from my other injuries that it is better to shut down and heal, rather than trod on, just to keep my fitness up. I’m feeling pretty fit right now, not sure if I’m Marathon fit (the way I would like), but fit none the less. I am going to blame this one on the shoes, which have more than 400 miles on them, and I was looking to replace very soon anyway.

All in all, this running/training regimen may not be my cup of tea after all. These injuries may be telling me that I am NOT A RUNNER, but just a Bucket list guy. I don’t know. I enjoy running and it has helped me to trim down this year, in a good way. I feel really good, except the injury part, although I am spending too much time fretting about the Marathon, instead of enjoying being a “pretend runner.”

Going to rest for at least one or two more days, and give it a test on Friday or Saturday. Will update then.