A Journey . . .

Well, I said this was going to be a journey. I was kind of hoping for a smooth and easy ride, but of course that's not life.

I had to take it easy about three weeks ago because I started feeling that twinge in my left inner leg again. I ran some, and did some spin classes to keep up with my cardio. It went away and I was getting back on track. A nasty cold while in Anaheim slowed me down to walking 16 hours in Disneyland rather than running at any point, but I still stayed positive. I was excited to get back and start running and try to catch up on my "schedule." Ha. Ha.

So, Cruz was home two Mondays ago and I decided to take advantage of it. I went for a morning 3 mile run before work to start the day and the week off right. Half Marathon, here I come! I was doing pretty good, and it felt great to be running again. Just as the thought "Wow! This run is going well!" I found myself on the ground. I tripped. And banged my knee on a rock. Actually, split open would be a better phrase. I felt a little dumb and was being flooded with pain as I called Cruz. I kept him on the phone as someone who saw me fall gave me a ride home. Thankfully I was almost done with my run and was just around the corner from my home.

Cruz doctored me up, since I got nauseous if I looked at my knee too long. I didn't think of myself as squeamish before then, but I had to lie down so as to not pass out. I probably could have gotten stitches, but since the gash was only about an inch long, we just used surgical strips and "new skin" to close it up. The worst part? It was over my knee cap which means . . . no bending my knee. I had a week of hobbling around, not being able to bend my left leg. (Why do all the injuries happen to my felt leg?) I even caught Simeon imitating my limp, kicking his straight left leg out as he walked. He thought it was pretty funny. Actually, I did too. He also thought it was funny to run away from me at the store since I could only hobble after him.

It's now been two weeks and I can finally bend my knee. It's still pretty bruised, so I can't kneel or anything like that, but I can move my leg again! Now comes the real challenge. My half marathon is in 6 weeks. I need to build up my running while going slowly so I don't get shin splints again. Yesterday I did a spin class, and it went better than I expected. I did have ease up a bit during the last 10 minutes since my knee was just starting to get a little sore under the heavy resistance I was pushing. I really want to just jump back into running full speed, and I have a strong push to do that so I can be ready for my race, BUT I really don't want to deal with any more shin splints. So, my plan is "slow and steady wins the race." I'm going to do as much cross training as I can to make sure my cardio is where it should be, and slowly build up my running. That way my legs can ease into the impact again and I can work on the mental side of running.

So, that's the plan. Six weeks to go . . .