What Blog? and Injured.

Whoa.  So, I've been gone for a while.  For more than a month, actually.  I wouldn't be suprised if most of you have completely written off my blog.  I think I almost did.  I tried to sit down and write a post about 8 different times in the past month, but it just wasn't happening.  I lost my blogging mojo, to say the least.

The month of May was a whirlwind of life events that seemed to capture all of my time and energy.  Let it be known that I am a terrible multi-tasker!  (I'm actually having trouble concentrating on writing this post right now because I'm also listening to music that I really like to sing along to.  I'm one of those annoying people who can't NOT sing a song when they know the words.)  So, when my routine gets thrown off balance I only have the mental stamina to take care of the absolute necessities.  Blogging does not fall into that category.  But, I have missed it.

So, here are some things that happened "while I was gone"...

My little guy turned 5 and graduated from preschool!

It got warm enough to bust out the "Mr. Mister" (aka the "kid wash")!  My husband built this a few years ago from PVC piping and plastic sprinkler heads.  It's become a summer staple.  The kids can run through it, ride their bikes through it, push toy trucks through it.  That picture of my kids looking like they're dead on our driveway is actually them enjoying the warm water--ha!

All of the 1st grade classes at my daughter's school put on the cutest Mother's Day concert with a little reception afterwards.  It was really fun.

My kids drew scary looking pictures of people picking their nose.  Huh?!

My super-smart, super-creative daughter did a presentation in her gifted class on dinosaurs and prehistoric sea creatures.  Here she is standing by the model of an Ammonite she made.  Her mind is amazing.

Last day of 1st grade with her basket of flowers and cards for teachers.

Oh yeah, and we ate in May too.

My husband and I also celebrated our 12th anniversary.  Crap, we're getting old!!

So, yeah, I'm injured.  Maybe some of you will remember a certain week in April when I was really trying to push my speed (I'm quite sure you've all committed this to memory, right?).  I did my first sub 25 minute 5k on the treadmill.  I thought I was pretty hot s#%t.  Unfortunately, what I was doing may not have been what my body was prepared for.  Not yet at least.  My left leg felt progressively worse after that point.  It was ignorable for a while, but continued to plague me.  The beginning of my runs usually started with a bit of limping (ridiculous), but usually the pain subsided enough to be tolerable for the remainder of the run.  I never iced, never did any stretching other than what was the norm for me, never took any anti-inflamitories, never even bought a foam roller.  For a while, I wasn't really sure what was hurting, and sometimes it was both legs.  I thought shin splints for a while.  Finally, about three weeks ago, the pain had gotten to the point that I was having pain in my left leg when I was just walking and when I would go down the stairs.  I was starting to hobble a bit.  Not good.  This coincided with a pretty busy few weeks in our lives with the end of school etc., so it was a good time to take a break anyway.  I took two whole weeks off, and I was feeling pretty well healed up (I will admit that I didn't think I was 100%, but I was 100% antsy to start running again.).  So I ran last week on Monday and Wednesday morning, both days a little less than 4 miles.  By Thursday morning the pain was back again.  Boo!!  I finally gave in and made an appointment with an ortho doc.  I felt kind of silly really.  In my mind, I just keep thinking "I just don't run enough to have actually injured myself.  That's for people who are REALLY training hard."  But, I guess the point is that I was doing more than what I had worked my body up to.  So, while the doctor didn't actually find any evidence of a stress fracture on the x-rays, he said that's likely the problem.  He said I could go get an MRI and a bone-scan, but it still might not show the problem and his recommendation would still be the same.  He called it an "injury of overuse", and suggested not running for six weeks.  SIX FREAKIN WEEKS.  And, what's worse, when I do start back up, it's supposed to be so painfully slow that I almost can't imagine it. 

**Okay, that's all the whining I'm going to do about this.**

(tonight)

So here I am, at the beginning of June, during the time of year when I'd be getting up early 3-4 times a week for a glorious early-morning run.  Sun rising.  Gentle, warm breezes.  Before my kiddos wake up.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a serious sense of loss at not being able to experience these runs for 6 weeks.  And I'm kind of at a loss as to what I'm going to do instead, because I want to keep as much of my strength and cardio as possible.  Swimming and a stationary bike (with NO resistance) are the two things the doc said I could do for cardio.  I am, quite possibly, the worlds crappiest swimmer.  Like, I still have to hold my nose to go under water.  Can't you just see me swimming with one arm, while the other pinches my nose?  I'm sure they can make me a diagonal lane since I won't be able to swim in a straight line!  Stationary bike = holy boring.  Plus, both of these things require me to go to the gym as opposed to just stepping out my front door.  But, it is what it is, and I'm going to have to find a way to deal with it and make the best of it.  I already posted on facebook that I plan on spending the next 6 weeks getting totally ripped arms and abs.  So, now I guess I'd better follow through with that...

Wow.  So that's what's going on with me, the long version.  I have been a totally crappy blogger, but I have been keeping up with other people's blogs.  It's been really fun to hear about everyone's races and training.  I'm looking forward to being able to share some similar stories...about 6 weeks from now.

I know plenty of you have experienced injuries.  What's your best  piece of advice for an injury newby?