Saturday, October 07, 2006

Progress?

It's been six days since my Milwaukee marathon debacle.

The good news? I made it through the past couple of days without resorting to the mondo-dose of ibuprofen that I needed to keep the aches and pains of my battered body at bay in the immediate aftermath of my 19-mile jaunt last Sunday. My knee still complains with nearly every step and something not good is going on with my left hip. But it's down to a relatively dull throb or twinge rather than a wild-animal-sinking-its-claws-and-teeth-into-my-leg kind of pain. That's a good thing, right?

A recurring image for me this week has been a woman runner limping back to the hotel in Milwaukee last Sunday. She was wrapped in a silver space blanket and was assisted by her husband. Although obviously in some discomfort, if not outright pain, she wore the medal given to all the finishers of the Lakefront Marathon. I ran far enough to hurt myself, but obviously not far enough to earn the medal that might offer at least a smidge of comfort from the glow of success.

OK, enough with the wallowing in self pity. It's time to move on.

I will give this resting stuff a few more days, but then I want to return to the streets soon for at least a short run to really see how I am doing.

2 comments:

Big Jay said...

No pushing yourself too hard right now.

Just listen to your body.

If you're worried about impact, go for a run in the pool. Yes, it sounds ridiculous...but it's a wonderful way to get your muscles moving again without the pain from pounding the pavement.

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

You know, it is so easy in hindsight to forget how much pain you were in and think "Maybe I could have finished!"

But I am sure that you, like most of us, wouldn't have stopped unless you *needed* to stop.

I limped my way through a half-marathon that I should have stopped running and consequently couldn't walk for the rest of the day, ruined my training for my first marathon, and couldn't run for another two months.

I agree with Barbara! Don't jump back in too fast if you are hurting!