"Houston, We Have a Problem..."

Most people know that one of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. It's fascinating to me the number of stories of the individuals it took to fix "a problem" and to bring a life-less spacecraft back to earth.

My loyal readers have probably been "fully aware" that I haven't been writing. Whether it has been work or life, let's just say "stuff" has gotten in the way.

But there has been another factor...

Yes, we have a problem.

About a week ago, I noticed an annoying pain in my right leg. It was actually multiple pains happening at varying degrees. For instance, one day I'd be running and my knee would be hurting. Then I would run a different day and it was my ankle. Always on my right leg (and my bad knee), I couldn't help but think I was experiencing something problematic.

At work, my days/weeks have sucked... especially when it comes to trying to plan a run. Think about your life... you come home, do whatever, eat, relax, and then attempt to go to sleep. For me, and probably most runners, you've got to fit in a "run" in the midst of all of that.

As one who experiences insomnia (since a kid!), I have a hard time winding down when I'm running after 8 PM. Therefore, I make it a point not to run after that time.

Because of that decision, and that for a very frustratingly-schedule-that-confounds-this-endeavor, Wednesdays have become a long run in the middle of my chaotic work-week. How have I handled this? I have had to skip Wednesdays and cram my runs into the days that follow...

I bring this up because last week I ran 29 miles in 5 straight days... Due to more scheduling conflicts (I swear I'm about to disown my friends and tell work to "stick it!"), I had to run 5 days straight! Believe me... it sucked. Let me walk you through that fiasco...

Thursday: I come home from work, exhausted, and I have to run 5 miles. Think about that in your normal workday...

Friday: I have the day off. My goal is to work in my yard, which I do... however, after all of that I have to run 4 miles. So the soreness that one feels after bending over all day, you NOW have to go run 4 miles.

Saturday: Another 4 miles... I'll just leave it at that.

Sunday: Big day... 8 miles. Becky joined Chandra and I out at the lake. That's 80 minutes of running (more or less) and I'm still sore from the yard work!

Monday: Good gawd here we go again... on my day off... both from work and in running, I have to force myself into a 4-miler because I "have" to entertain out-of-town guests on Tuesday night.

So I'm finishing up my 4 mile and I'm hurting... big time... my right leg has just about "killed" the entire run. I keep wondering what is going on... why won't it ease up? When I finally (mercifully!) finish the run, I'm limping. Seriously... it hurts just to put weight on it.

For the past 2 days I have really had to struggle to put weight on that leg. I've wondered if it's a stress fracture... which, would just about kill me and my chances to run in OKC.

So tonight I took the night off. I'm icing it and hoping beyond hope it's muscular. But I know it's a problem and I just need to figure it out... or what to do about it.

I'll keep you posted.