Careful where you step!

Despite the weather, I had a great running week last week.  I pushed through the hot, sweaty elements, had a great long run on Saturday where, when I got done, I felt like I could have done more (!).  And, finally on Sunday, I ran my first 5k in well over a year and almost PRed by 14 seconds.  It was a race where I felt strong, fast and confident, making me feel like I should stop fearing the fastness of the 5k and just do more of these things.

Yesterday was brutal.  A storm passed through and the humidity increased by thousands of percentage points.  Impossible, I know, but surely that’s what it felt like.  I started the run strong, and ended weak. I blamed it on a debilitating side stitch (true story) – which I blamed on the Fiber One bar I had eaten earlier that day. I blamed it on the nasty humidity.  I blamed it on the fact I was trying out a new breathing pattern a friend had posted a link to on FB that would enable me to run better (looks like I need more practice).  Lastly, I blamed it on the fact that before starting said breathing pattern, I used a lot of my breath laughing at a joke about a wetsuit.  Don’t ask!

Bad runs happen.  I brushed it off after, made fun of my friend who stayed back with me only to tell me he was running home after this.  To his credit, home was 4miles away, as opposed to my home, 30 miles away.  I still felt the runners high of my past running weekend anyways.

This morning, as I do most mornings, I waited in my car for the bus to arrive and take me to work.  Once the bus pulled into the park and ride, I got out and started walking towards the bus door. Suddenly, my ankle rolled to the left and I instinctively put out my arms to catch my balance.  Phew!  I didn’t fall.  But… wait, is that pain I’m feeling in my ankle?  Where did that stupid stone come from??

Even my bus driver, who knows about my running shenanigans, commented “That’ll stop you from running!” 

Probably didn’t help that I was wearing these shoes:

These babies have been with me since circa 2002 -
and I refuse to part with them.

 The whole ride in, I panicked and psychosomatically felt my ankle feeling weird.  I stretched it and twirled it around, hoping I could shake it out.  Soon as I got to my work building, I was worried sick, wondering if I would be dealing with a real, marathon training preventing injury. 

Fueling my fear is the fact a coworker was walking from her car to our building and broke her ankle not too long ago.  She stepped wrong - crack, crunch and into the hospital she went.  Out months from work, she is finally back but still hobbling with a steel plate permanently in her foot. 

I don’t need to mention why I was so scared about hurting my foot (if you need an explanation, please read the rest of my posts).  Good news is: I am happy to report that I got my lunch time run in, 3.5 miles pain free.  It just feels a little twisted but nothing serious to report at this time.

What should I do?  Obsessively watch everywhere I step from now on?  I guess.  Wear better shoes?  Well, maybe just my travel shoes – which I swear I was going to do today, but the ones I did wear (pictured above) are the only "heels" I can walk miles in.  Or so I thought until today.

So, we’ll see how the rest of this week shapes up. I’m already skipping my “long run” this weekend as my plan only calls for 6 miles and I am planning my holiday weekend around some beer, steamed clams and burgers!