Me, Myself, and I (ce pack)

A sadly common sight these last few days: ice pack, meet heel

I have not run since Sunday. I am ready to punch a freakin' hole in the wall. I am trying so hard to be good. John Bingham, the man I love to quote, the one who says his marathon strategy is to finish the same day he starts, has this to say about injury:

"At the onset of an injury--notice the word onset--stop what you're doing and rest. Our own rule of thumb is to take 3 days off. Three days. Three full days. That means if it hurts on Monday, you take Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off and see how it feels on Friday. (We know you. You figure if it hurts on Monday, that's one day. Then Tuesday is a second day and Wednesday is the third, so you can run on Thursday. Not.)"

Since I injured myself on Sunday, Wednesday, today, is the third day. My heel is definitely much better, but I will be interested to see how it feels when I get out of bed tomorrow morning. This morning, it was a little stiff and a little painful when I first got up.

I am going to go to the gym tomorrow and get on the gerbil wheel for a few easy miles and see how it feels. I can always stop or use the elliptical if necessary. I am trying to remain cool and take this all in stride, but I can't help but feel a little panicked. This week is a terrible time to get injured. I am supposed to run 12 miles on Saturday and I will (hopefully) have done a whopping 4 for the whole week beforehand. I guess it's my pre-taper taper...

An alert reader sent me a link to this interesting article about the benefits of water running (where you jog in place in a pool). Hopefully I won't be forced to take it up in an attempt to maintain my last few shreds of fitness. John Bingham tried it after he got a stress fracture in his heel, and it helped him recover.

But enough of doom, gloom, and injury. How about letting spring say a few words?

KAZOW!

SPIFF!

BLAMMO!

Aaaah, I feel better already...