2017 Please Treat me Well!

I am not one bit sad to see 2016 be done...NOT.ONE.BIT.  2016 will forever be known as the year of 'the injury' that kept me from enjoying one of my favorite activities.  If you have been following the blog, or my social media account, you know that starting in August, I had recurring shin pain in my right leg.  After pushing through a few races, I could no longer pretend that it was nothing.  After a negative xray, a bone scan was ordered.  Diagnosis....Stress Fractures in both tibias...the right one far worse than the left.


This is not my actual scan...but put that in both legs and it might as well be.

The person running the test said she couldn't give me any results but said "If you can see it from across the room...well.....".  All the Dr.Google research I did said I'd be off for 6-8 weeks, in a boot.  You know when you kind of know something in the back of your head, but until someone actually confirms it, it doesn't seem real???  That was me.  According to Runner's World...this is the most common stress fracture in runners, followed closely by the foot.

At my GP's office, he said...."no activity for at least 4-6 weeks, and then you can do 1 minute....if it hurts...then stay off it again."  I was like "1 MINUTE!". "NO ACTIVITY"  And really no definitive date of return.  I was crushed.  I'm not going to lie...I cried and I felt sorry for myself for about a week.  Granted, I hadn't been running consistently because of the stupid injury (yes...it's still stupid to me), but at least I had been doing some activity with workouts...and now that was being taken away.  The one good thing that my GP said was that I would not be confined to a 'boot', which makes driving and walking much easier.

I am currently in week #4 of no activity.  I got on the stationary bike for the first time this week.  It went okay...so I think I'll add that 3 times per week.  Dumbbells and the TRX have been my friends but it's just not the same.  My running friends will completely get it when I say I just can't get the same feeling from working out/biking as I do when I crawl up the stairs from a tempo run!  I know....well I hope....I can come back stronger.  I hope that all these weeks of recovery really do heal the stress fracture...but there are no guarantees.

So while the rest of my friends are scrolling through the race events and planning which ones they are going to do, I'm sitting idly waiting...waiting...waiting until I can start to do the same.  Please 2017....be good to me.