Reflection

It's been a weird couple of days - Sat I was all full of hope at being able to get out on Sunday and try a run. Well I can say that I did try to run, but I didn't last. I met up with Al, Lynelle and her friend Erin at the Tan - they were all out to do about 16kms, but I just wanted to stick to a couple of laps of the Tan to test out my shins. Well, I started out with the girls and managed to complete about half a lap before I felt the pain in my shins. I resigned myself to walking up Anderson street hill (any excuse, huh??) and met the girls at the top. I told them to keep going, whilst I stretched out and thought about continuing. I tried running downhill for a bit and that's where I think it all came unstuck - that pesky stabbing pain in my shins started up again - eventually it got to the point where it just hurt too much to continue, so I stopped and walked back to the car - not even able to finish one lap - pretty sad!!

I met Simon back at the car and had a little cry to him - I felt so dejected and I was convinced that I had blown my chances of running the half in two weeks time.

Today my shins still hurt - there is a little stabbing pain when I walk and also a general throbbing pain when I stand for too long - both not great signs! I iced both shins tonight and last night, but both are still quite sore. I have an appointment with the podiatrist tomorrow, so we'll see what they say - I'm hoping just for shin splints and not stress fractures, but I just can't tell at this stage. I spent a long time tonight looking on the net to find out what each should feel like, but it's like finding a needle in a hay stack - everyone experiences things differently. I do have a pretty low pain threshold, so what is painful to me, is probably not even something that someone else would even bother about.

So, tonight my shins throb and I can't sleep - I have just taken some Nurofen, so am waiting for that to kick in (Nurofen is my new best friend!!). I thought instead of lying in bed thinking poor me - I would come online and read a couple of blogs of people who I know have had similar injuries. You know what I got out of it the most??? None of them ever really gave up - yeah, they had their poor me moments, but in the long run, they all got better and are now back running again. My approach yesterday (and also tonight) was that I would just give up running - go back to just going to the gym because it is all too hard. After reading other people's blog tonight, though, it's made me see that I can get over this little hurdle - after my appointment tomorrow night I will have a better idea of where I am at and I can just do as I am told and get back into the running again (albeit slowly and sensibly this time!!). No point in giving up before I have even really begun - I realistically don't think that I will be able to run the half in two weeks, but that doesn't mean that I will never be able to run another half ever again!

Love the internet - thanks to all bloggers that keep it real and inspire others!