Sidelined

As I sat in the truck this morning waiting to see if anyone else would arrive, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to the possibility of no one showing. I bet my bed was still warm, and if not it wouldn't take but a few mins to warm it back up. But then I saw someone jog into the bakery, there went my dreams. We got out of the car and I felt a soreness in my right thigh, I noticed it after last nights run but was being too stubborn to admit it could be anything. The short walk across the street was a quick reminder of how cold it was going to be for our run. 15 degrees and I didn't even want to know what the wind chill was making it feel like. 5 of us braved the frigid air to get our miles in. After a quick chat with the others we took off. Joe and I held our place proudly in the back of the pack. At one point he commented that it was good we had each other or we would be running alone. Turning onto Angell St, I immediately felt the cold, I should have worn 2 pairs of socks. It was unbelievable to me that we had just started what was planned to be 14 miles in this. Turning onto Gano St the group broke up and I could barely see Nich bouncing along far ahead, I settled in. Last weekend I took off too fast and paid for it in the end. 14 miles is not a distance to race, it's a distance to conquer. Crossing over to Wickenden we tackled the first hill of many, and made quick work of it. We've run up it countless times. I glanced longingly at Reflections Cafe, not my favorite coffee shop but anything would do at this point. A nice hot chocolate with some whipped cream, maybe that would be my reward. Heading down Hope St, I noticed that my leg wasn't feeling right. By this point we were a mile and a half into our run and for the most part my body had adjusted. My hands and face had gone numb and all the kinks from my earlier runs this week had faded to the background. My thigh was another story, it hurt. For a minute I questioned stopping but then I didn't want to let anyone down, that and I felt I needed to get my miles it. It had been a difficult week in terms of running and regardless of the temps today, it was nice to be back on the roads. We were running a familiar route and I was having a good time. We passed OMAC which is normally our start/stopping place and I had a bounce in my step. Heading down Hope after cresting the hill at Doyle was another story. The pain began to grow and was becoming unbearable. Just as I thought I was going to stop, the road flattened out by Rochambeau and the pain subsided some. What to do? Can I tolerate this for another 12 miles and if I do what damage will it do? Stubbornly I continued. The pain was worse at every downhill and getting worse as the miles ticked on. I tackled the hill at East Ave, knowing full well that I was going to pay for it on the way down. I noticed Joe was lagging behind and took some time circling half way down all the while my thigh feeling like the muscle was separating from the bone. At this point I knew that 14 miles would be out of the question, the problem being now that I was 6 miles from my car. Joe joined me and I disclosed my secret, I'm injured. Thankfully he was having an off day as well and happy to cut the run short. Regardless we had to get back to the car and it was too cold to walk. The next hour we were quite the motley crew painfully running back to Wayland Ave. At one point on the blvd we ran back a group of runners and I was almost embarrassed to be seen limping along like I was. Finally making it back to the car it felt terrible to even walk on it. We rehashed our run over coffee and yogurt, I knew what I had to do. Call the coach. He gets a little touchy if injuries aren't reported pronto. As I pulled myself out of my chair in a manner similar to that of an 82 year old woman with osteo-arthritis I kicked my self for being such a stubborn ass. I knew at the start of the run I was hurt but ignored it. After a consultation, the most likely diagnosis are some minor tears in the muscle. The treatment, stay off it for 48 hours and no high heels. Great, I might as well be sent to the hospital, cut the leg off. Tomorrow and Monday I'll hit the pool and hopefully it won't impact the mile race that is scheduled for Friday evening. I will not forfeit!