Insult to Injury

This is not a political statement, but I'll blame this one on Obama, Darwin award behavior, and getting old. I'm rehab'ing from a stress fracture I ran on in the Chicago Marathon this last October. I thought I was dealing with shin splints and would muscle through it. A month after Chicago, I was still feeling pain and knew something was not right. I finally went to the ortho and x-rays revealed nothing. "I can't say for sure without a bone scan, but I think it's a stress fracture," according to my ortho. I was quarantined to no running and not even eliptical for six weeks. After six weeks, I still had pain and I was scheduled for a bone scan. I don't start out with the greatest bones having been diagnosed with Arthritis at age 13.

Sure enough, the bone scan revealed a stress fracture in my left tibia. Another prescription of EIGHT weeks without running and daily Calcium and Vitamin D supplements. After four months of this back and forth I decided to go see my running physical therapist (AKA, Dr. Death.) Mark Plaatjes in Boulder, CO. He works miracles for runners and had helped me through numerous injuries in 2008 aside from his marathon tips as an accomplished marathon runner himself. After he scolded me for not seeing him two months earlier, he did his Dr. Death treatment (like hardcore Rolf massage--gripping the table in pain kinda stuff.) He diagnosed that I had muscle issues related to the injury and likely caused by a 2nd toe longer than the first. Sounds funky, but he's not steered me wrong yet.

What does all this have to do with Obama? I went to his Democratic acceptance speech in Denver and the lines were insane getting into Invesco Field. This is the Darwin part...I'm in flip flops and have to run three miles to get around to the other side of the stadium due to security to get in--a cascade of calf, plantar, and glute muscle injuries lead up to what I thought was shin splints, but was a stress fracture. Running in flip flops...that's the Darwin part. Dumb things dumb guys do.

Recovering from this requires a ton of patience and introducing things like pool running and swimming while watching the spring runners enjoy the weather--not a fun thing. Helping me ramp up was an article I found online about returning to running after a stress fracture.

The good news is I ran 10 this weekend and actually feel pretty good--still some muscle tenderness in the calf area so I'll be off to Dr. Death again soon gripping that table.