'My Left Leg'

I use running to regulate both my weight and my mood. Admittedly, running is probably an addiction for me. If I see someone else running I have a visceral response and for a brief moment I wish I was that runner. I imagine this is similar to what a drug addict feels when they watch someone else shoot up.

Anyway, in my quest to run the Tucson marathon before the age of 30, I hurt my left leg. The pain started on the inner side of the upper portion of my thigh when I was in Portland. At first, the pain was dull enough that I could just run through it. My thigh would be tight at the start of a run but after about 1/2 mile it would loosen up and feel fine. This ceased to be the case after my 11 mile run on Monday in which I was unable to walk Tuesday morning. CRAP! My inability to walk forced me to finally see a doc. Please note that almost all of my pain was on the inner side of my thigh. If this is something that you have paid attention to then congratulations you could be a sports medicine specialist the U of A campus health center. The first doctor diagnosed me with illiotibial (IT) band syndrome. While this is a very common running injury look where the IT band is... it is on the outside of the leg. This is hardly in the ball park of where I am having pain. Moreover, the first doctor I saw told me that I did not need to take a break from running. I only needed to cut back on my miles a bit. While I really liked her advice, common sense prevailed over my addiction. My body knows that I need to quit running for a week or two.

Anyway, I saw a different doctor on Thursday and she was much better. The final diagnosis is a strained quadriceps. The combination of sitting a car for many hours while driving to Portland, running a lot of hills while not being properly stretched, and wearing old shoes that had lost too much of their original support could all lead to such an injury. This would also explain why my leg loosens up and feels ok to run on but then makes me pay for it later by tightening up so much that I cannot walk. The bottom line is that I need to take anti-inflammatories twice a day, ice my leg, pay more attention to stretching and take 2 weeks off from running. But the lovely doctor pointed out the since my last run was on Monday, I could start running short distances again a week from next Monday. I think I can manage that and it gives me a reason to start biking again. Unfortunately, this does mean that the Tucson marathon is out for this year but the Phoenix marathon may still be a possibility!