Chiropractor visit #2

Ya know how I said the doc wanted me to run today?

I figured it wasn't going to happen. Not when I woke up in pain 3-ish times (brain gets a little fuzzy when I'm, ya know, asleep). Holy crap. I've had shin splints before, but never bad enough to freaking wake me up. The only injury that's ever woken me up was when I tore my PCL, and only the night immediately after it happened.

(My stubborn butt played roller derby for a month with a torn PCL, by the way. I was only benched when a coach forced it on me, and I still argued with him about it.)

Still, I woke up, limped around, and put on all my running clothes in anticipation that he was going to do some chiropractic miracle and then send me on my way for an easy five miles.

No.

I did admit to him that I want to run. I reallyreallyreallyreallyreally want to ruuuuunnnnnn. But I'm terrified of running. He didn't let me run. He did say I looked better, even though I didn't feel better, not at all. He did all the fun chiropractic stuff. I got into my car and cried.

I got home, husband asked how the appointment went, and I cried again. Then I went and got on the elliptical because I had to do SOMETHING to avoid being a wreck at work all day.

Elliptical and weights helped, mildly, although the elliptical still feels like about the most pointless and ridiculous exercise ever. It was bad enough that I was staring longingly at the treadmills and had to talk myself down from just trying to run for a minute. However, the elliptical is exercise, it is conveniently located at my apartment complex when I don't have time to go to the gym, and it does not hurt. I have to accept it for now.

The good news is that I'm maybe actually feeling better now. The right shin no longer hurts 24/7 (even when resting). I can walk pretty consistently with a normal gait (whereas last night, the husband asked why I was "walking funny". Yes, he really felt the need to ask that!). And today I caught myself walking faster. I'd almost forgotten that my default speed is "in a big hurry". I have not been able to hurry until today. Wearing running shoes to work, even though they're not the most stylish option, probably helped.

Oh....the compression sleeves I got....I showed them to the doctor. He said at this point, maybe they'd help, or maybe they'd make things worse because my calves are super tight as it is. The good news is they can't get much worse. He did say they'd be really effective as a preventative measure once I've recovered more, which is great, since I need to break the cycle of better/worse/better/worse that I've been dealing with.

If I keep recovering, I can try running this weekend. I'm really really hoping I'm not losing speed and conditioning......although if I do, I do, I guess. I did pick up so much more speed in a month of running with the group, I'm hopeful I could get it all back. My bigger worry is that I was so hoping for a good half marathon performance next week. I know I can finish a half (heck, I'm stubborn enough that I could finish a marathon tomorrow if I wanted to, it just wouldn't be pretty) but I (a) hate racing when I'm not in the best shape I can be in, and (b) do NOT want to limp around for nearly a week again!!

The good news is that I will not ever have shin splints this bad again, because this marks the last time that I tell myself that I can keep running with shin splints and they will go away. Next time, I'm remembering this level of pain and I'm taking time off as soon as they start acting up.