Medial Tibial Syndrome, the proper medical name for shin splints, struck me down with a vengeance last night on my run. It's described in Wikipedia as a "painful condition in the shins".Uh huh.
Painful is an understatement and for anyone that has had this condition, you know how absolutely suckish it is. On top of the pain I was angry at myself for doing something to cause this stupid condition...was it my stride? Was I landing too hard on my heels? Did I tie my shoes too tight? Were the running gods TRYING to make this sport even more unappealing to me?
My original plan was to run 2 1/2 miles last night and I only made it to 1 1/2 because the burning pain in my shins got so bad it actually brought tears to my eyes. Yes, running has finally brought me to weep. The pain was so intense at one point I wanted to lie down on the sidewalk and hope that someone would eventually come looking for me, preferably with a vehicle or wheelchair. I managed to haul my butt back to the house and to the freezer where I grabbed the first 2 bags of frozen vegetables I saw-edamame and green beans-and applied them directly to my shins. There is nothing like using a Japanese frozen veggie to alleviate pain. Trust me. I left them on until I could no longer feel my shins but the minute I took the cold compresses off the pain returned.
Well, that's downright discouraging.
How, may I ask you, am I going to run a 5K or even up the stairs with shin splints? I'm seriously starting to doubt myself here. Am I insane to think that my body...the body that has never been a runner...the body that is clearly not doing well with this whole running thing...can really do this?
I need some Advil. Stat.
1 comment:
Nice blog, and good luck training! I started running 2 years ago after signing up for a 4 mile race. It hooked me, and almost exactly one year later I finished a marathon. It's amazing where this hobby can take you!
I also suffered shin splints at first. It's fairly normal, just rest, ice and don't push too hard. I also found that running on the side of the road made things worse on my left leg since the road slopes down toward the sides. Alternating running on opposite sides of the road helped me get through the initial pain.
Post a Comment