Stress Fracture Update

It has been a long 6 weeks. I have two more weeks to go, and I have a feeling they will be long, too.

So, just a bit of history.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I ran a 16 miler with the Fleet Feet 26.2 group. It was  an easy pace. I was tired from the holiday week and I had nearly 70 miles for the week done when the run started. I had about 3 or 4 days in a row where that I just didn't feel good while running at all. About 10 miles into the 16 miler on that Saturday, my right shin started hurting pretty bad. It wasn't just a little bad, it was really bad. I was limping.

I finished that run and went ahead with my scheduled Sunday run. I was  planning to do 16 miles on Sunday. But... My shin was still hurting. Bad. I quit at 12 miles. My leg hurt for the rest of the day. Shin splints I told myself. Everybody who runs has them and I've never had them, so it's my turn. I tried all kinds of shin splint remedies. Ice. Compression. Walk on a golf ball. Pressure roll it until you cry. Everything I had heard to try, I tried. My leg still hurt. It hurt to sit. It hurt to walk. It hurt to run.

Oh well. I'm just going to have to get used to it. People run with shin splints. If I'm tough, I can too. So, I took most of the week after Thanksgiving off, only running Friday and Saturday. Both runs hurt. Bad. Limping bad.

So, I scheduled an appointment with SportsMED. X-Ray showed a tiny crack in my right tibia about 4 cm above my ankle, mostly perpendicular to the bone, but curving slightly downward from right to left. There was a small knot on the outside of the bone where the crack started.

The prescription was two months of no running and minimal impact. For the first couple of weeks, no spinning class and no walking. Basically, don't do anything that hurts. About a week later, walking was possible again. How on earth will I stay in shape? My only options were swimming and pool running, neither of which I wanted to do.

It's been 6 weeks. I haven't been very good about exercising regularly. I've packed on about 5 lbs. I'm learning to swim, but my stroke is terribly novice and I'm beating the water into submission.

I'll update more later. But 2 weeks from yesterday I go back to the doctor. I expect him to release me because it doesn't hurt. I've run a couple of times (very easy and very short) in the past two weeks and I don't feel any pain at all, so I think I'm healed but I'm waiting on the doctor to say "Go run."