The Injury

It’s not even a “real” injury. A “real” injury is when I can’t walk, period. Or when it hurts to walk. No, this one just kicks in after I’ve run about a half a mile.

Stupid ankle injury.

I have no idea how I hurt my ankle or what is actually hurt. It’s my right, inner ankle bone, and it’s right on the bone. It hurts when I press it. Found that one out in church yesterday. Yeah, smart, I know. Let’s press what hurts.

When Kelsey and I ran our 10k back in October, I hurt it then. The sidewalk was a bit sideways, and I don’t know if I pulled/strained/stretched or what, but it started hurting. But it was fine in my next run. But this Friday it kicked back up again. I ran five miles Friday, which was a mistake for multiple reasons. Reason 1: I didn’t have my route memorized, so I had to double back once to get it right. Reason 2: I didn’t wear my blister-preventing socks because “five miles isn’t a lot!” so now I have blisters. Reason 3: My ankle started killing me.

I supposedly stayed off it Saturday. Translation: I just walked for two hours up hills – no running needed. However, it did not hurt once.

I iced it multiple times Saturday night and Sunday morning in preparation for a eight or nine mile run. I could feel that it was still tender, but, since I’m not sure what caused it, I thought that it just needed to be stretched out or strengthened through running (As I’ve asked pretty much everyone’s opinion on the subject of hurt ankles, one of the schools of thought is that I have weak ankles.).

We had to walk a lot because of me. By Mile 3, when we were walking uphill, Kelsey asked, “Is your ankle hurting?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“I can tell. You’re limping.”

Well, poo.

I hadn’t realized I was limping. When she said that, it finally clicked: I need rest.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

One of the worst things you can tell a runner is not to run. Indefinitely (though I’ll probably try again Wednesday – and if it starts hurting, I promise to stop). Especially one training for a dadgum half-marathon.

So guess what’s about to become my best friend? A stationary bike. And ice.

I do see benefits to a hopefully short hiatus, though. First, our revival started yesterday and goes through Wednesday. So I can go to the revival and not worry, “Okay, am I running before or after revival? Should I wear my running clothes there? Where should we run, since it’ll be dark?” That’s not an option right now.

Also, Hubby and I saw Rindy and her husband last night, and I gave her the bad news about my ankle. As soon as I got finished, my husband started in.

“Okay, we’ve GOT to run this week, even if it’s at 5:30 a.m.,” he said seriously. “And we’re going out of town this weekend, so we need to be accountable and run on our own, too. We don’t have much time before this half-marathon, and we need to get into shape.”

I think I might have swooned.