The world is full of injured runners...

Tuesday 28/11/06:
I finally had my first post HM run today, after 9 days off! Yahoo!

I can't totally blame this on my leg - I was meant to be doing a bit of gentle exercise on the weekend and gauging how it felt, but due to an EXTREMELY social one, (out both Fri & Sat nights) I was a bit the worse for wear and never got out there! Still, I hadn't really celebrated my last two HM results, so think a bit of a "blow out" was justified. And damn, did I have fun!! Gotta love those work Xmas functions - our ones are always great!! We even had a Tina Turner impersonator this year and HE was fantastic!! Right from his wig, down to the sequined mini-dress and high-heels!! Then again, if I'd left at the end of the function instead of pubbing and clubbing my way round the city till 3.30am, I probably would have been OK!! Oh well...

Anyway - back on topic, an extra day off was required yesterday due to that dreaded T.O.M. causing me to feel totally crappy, but this morning I was out the door at 6am sharp! Nothing was going to stop me. It felt like ages since I'd last run the local streets! It was a bright fine morning, but there was a rather brisk, cool wind. Used my new iPod Shuffle for the first time when running - even tho I've only loaded a couple of dozen songs onto it so far, it was still great!

Brisk walk warmup: 5mins
Easy paced run: 33mins
Brisk walk cooldown: 5mins

However the bad news is that despite 9 days off running and 5 days of anti-inflams, the left upper leg still did not feel good after the first few kms and since then it is back to being rather sore to walk on. I am not sure if this is due to running again, or just to coming off the anti-inflams, which I only just stopped taking last night, or both. Saw the physio again yesterday too and she described the area as still feeling "yucky" - which was prior to running on it of course. Therefore today I went and had it x-rayed, just in case it is not muscular. However even tho the doctor won't report on it till later on, she said she could not see anything obvious. Next step is to start some strengthening work on it with the physio tomorrow and see how that goes... If that does not help, it will be back to the sports physician and possibly another scan. I am taking in extra protein (in the form of shakes) at the moment, as well as calcium - figure neither can hurt.

All rather frustrating, but I'm trying not to complain too much - one of my best girlfriends is currently in hospital after undergoing a very serious 5hr surgery on her knee, for the second time in a year, due to it not being a success the first time... It wasn't caused thru running at all, but I feel so sorry for her as she is looking at a very long recovery time and still doesn't know if this outcome will be any better than the first.

On top of this fellow bloggers/Ausrunners Beakus, Boston and AlsoRan have on-going injury woes and now Chris (CJWalkey) has torn a hammy and Em (EJM) has PF (all be it a mild case, she is quick to point out!) At least I'm in good company I suppose!! In fact almost every runner I know has suffered from some kind of injury or another in recent times... goes with the territory I guess...

I knew that running two HM's within 3 weeks was risking possible injury - although to be fair this injury had already shown up before the 2nd one at Kerikeri.

Was I being stupid to do it anyway? - Possibly...
Do I regret doing it? - Definately not!