Injuries

When you run a lot and know a lot of runners, you hear about a lot of injuries. There are the IT band issues, the shin splints, the stress fractures, the strained ankles, the black toenails...

Knock on something, but besides a bit of chafing, I've not really sustained injuries as a result of running. Problem is, I am a klutz. So, I've injured myself in general and that has affected my running.

Last year, I joined a kickball team with Zog sports for the summer. I was already training for the marathon and thought that it would be another fun, social, fitness-oriented activity. The groups also would always go to a bar after games, so that was part of the appeal. In any case, I was up to some longer mileage when I hurt myself playing kickball. It was the end of our playoff game and I was up to kick. Everything was resting on that moment. I could have helped score the winning point. Instead, the ball came toward me, and I was concentrating so hard that I went to kick the ball and my foot kept rolling over the ball, up in to the air, and I ended up flat on my back, my tailbone hitting the ground first. It was not pretty. I was basically out of commission for the next week or so with lower back pain that shot down my leg. I had recurring pain throughout training. A week before my marathon, I didn't know if I would be able to do it. Thankfully, the injury was still there, but managable, so I made it through the marathon.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a sort of funk. I've been feeling like I maybe am getting sick, and I've been kind of grumpy and tired. I went to Thanksgiving with the family and my friends B & A on Thursday and, along with my brother, we all crashed with my mom and sister after dinner. It was a great time, but I was unable to fully enjoy it, being in my stinky mood.

So, on Friday, after a bus ride back where I napped, I took the subway and by the time I got out, it was freezing outside and I was so tired. I walked to my building. I went inside and contemplated getting my mail, but I decided against it, on a mission to get upstairs and into sweats. I had my keys in one hand and my bag on my shoulder. As I went to go up the stairs, my foot got caught or didn't move fast enough and my entire body lurched forward, spilling me onto the stairs and smashing my left knee into the hard marble. I crouched there for a moment, squeezing my eyes shut and gritting my teeth.

Whenever I'm on the subway or somewhere crowded and someone bumps into my knee or steps on my foot or does anything to my bottom half, the first thing I fear is being injured so I cannot run. And, of course, I do it to myself.

I wasn't sure if the knee was bleeding or broken or what. So, I painfully made my way up the stairs and when I got into my apartment, I checked out the damage. There was a red and light purple line across my knee. Bruising immediately was probably not a great sign, I was thinking. So, I iced and rested for the next few hours. When I was on my way out for the evening, I went to crouch down to scoop the litter box and nearly passed out from the pain of bending my knee.

I bailed on the 9 miles I was supposed to do Saturday morning, which meant that I only ran the hash and the Turkey Trot this past week for a grand total of less than 9 miles. Then there was Thanksgiving and a couple of days of letting loose. So, I am not in tip top shape. I've not run or done anything else major since Thursday morning. And, I have a 10k next Sunday that I might give up on trying to hit as hard as I want to. It's getting better, but there is a huge bruise and this afternoon I decided against running so as not to damage it further. But, I did take a nice walk through the park.

I am just feeling tired. Maybe the grouchiness and the feeling sick and the fall are related. Maybe something is just telling me to chill out a little bit.