Monday, May 9, 2011

Ankle Bones and Kidney Stones


Sometimes I do the right thing.  Sometimes I let my brain win out over my body.  Sometimes, when my wonky legs start talking, I actually listen.

Today marks one week without running.  Self-imposed exile to hopefully stop some slowly building ankle pain from reaching full crescendo.  Thanks to the comments from my last post regarding my shin/ankle issues, I removed my head from my rear and shut things down.  I’m 6 months out from my next marathon, so doing something stupid now that would continue to bother me for the next 6 months would be foolish.  Fairly typical for me, but foolish nonetheless.

I can’t really tell if the time off has helped or not.  The ankle still feels a little ‘off’, but not especially painful.  I don’t know that ‘rest’ is exactly the right term for it, since I spent countless hours hauling 25 cubic yards of mulch all over the place trying to make our yard presentable.  More accurately, 25 cubic yards of mulch were delivered.  I think I managed to get through about 15 this weekend.  I’m trying to do a true rest-day today, staying off my feet as much as possible.  Tentative plan is to try a short run tomorrow morning and see what happens.  I’m itching to get back to running, but dreading the possibility of no progress in the healing once I really test it out.

As a fun activity to pass the time while not running, my body decided to focus its efforts Thursday on moving a kidney stone from inside my body to the outside world.  Fly … be free.  This is the fourth fun-filled episode of kidney stones I’ve dealt with, but the first in nearly 7 years.  Made for a long day, but thankfully I birthed that little bugger Thursday night, so the pain didn’t linger beyond the 10ish hours on Thursday.  Called my doctor in the midst of the stone-party to schedule an appointment, and they were kind enough to fit me into the schedule 8 days later.  Where’s the love?  Went to see a different doctor on Friday, and the xray didn’t show any more lurking in my kidney, so I think I’m safe for a little while.  Ahh … the wonders of the human body as we get older.  A fine wine I am not.

Weather in NC is crazy beautiful today.  If the run goes well tomorrow I’m looking forward to some sunny, cool, early morning Spring runs.  Much love.

Couldn’t close this out without a mention of the 100+ treadmill miles in 24 hours that Emz threw down in her charity run for the Sojourner Center on Friday/Saturday.  You can still donate to the cause HERE, and I hope you will.  Such a good cause …. Such a good person.

19 comments:

  1. Sorry about your ankle - crossing my fingers that your test run goes well.

    Kidney stones is one of the most horrifically painful things I've ever been through, so to hear you sound all matter-of-fact about it makes me shake my head in wonder. Glad it's OUT. Hope there were no friends left behind...

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  2. i know right??? nc weather this am was just about perfect!!! i dont mind getting up before dawn for temps like this. ask me again in august when its still dark outside and 80 degress and 90% humidity.

    lovely....birthing a kidney stone. glad there arent any stragglers left behind.

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  3. Kidney stones? YUCK! So sorry! That was really good of the office to schedule you in so soon! They've apparently never had one before!
    EMZ is amazing!
    And I'm glad you're listening to your body. That's so hard to do when you just wanna go run.

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  4. Bleh - so sorry about your ankle and kidney stones, no fun!!

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  5. Yikes that kidney stone sounds harsh - glad it's out and there are no stragglers. Test that ankle gently...hope the rest helps!

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  6. Ankle issues AND kidney stones? UG! I do NOT envy you.

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  7. sad to hear about your kidney stone! ah! no good! at least you are in the clear... for now. ;)

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  8. I am starting my 3rd week no running. I am not liking it. I hope the ankles get well soon.. And yes the time off probably did help.

    Kidney Stones... YIKES!!!

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  9. Oh no! Kidney stones!!! Ouch! Hope you are feeling better! :0)

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  10. Man, kidney stones? That sucks. My friend said it hurts worse than childbirth...

    I wanted to say thanks for keeping up with Em over the weekend...it was hard to answer back to all the comments but we talked about them all and they helped sooo much. You are always so thoughtful, and I wanted to say thank you. :)

    Now wipe away that tear and get back to that 624 week training plan. Do you wear calf sleeves when you run? Might help.

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  11. Isn't that more painful that giving birth. So I hear.

    BTW, I have heard that missing one week of training does not degradate your fitness level at all. Keep that in mind. If you need another week off then it's really not putting a big dent into your training.

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  12. I'm glad you're listening to your body...and hope you're feeling better soon!

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  13. Ouch. Double Ouch. Let's not go for a triple ouch, so hang in there : )

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  14. Ijust took a week off for something similar (ankle, not kidney stone) and it made all the difference.

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  15. Ouch! That sounds uber painful. I hope you recover quickly.

    Thanks for stopping by my page. I actually went to school in NC at ASU.

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  16. kidney stones? wtf? please tell me i won't get those. you must be like a fine beer. ;)

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  17. Owie on the kidney stone - Never had them but I had some bad dehydration problems once and my doctor swore it was a stone. Take that Doc, I'm just majorly dehydrated! Glad it passed and is gone...eat more fiber I guess?

    Hope the lay-off does the ankle good!!

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  18. kidney stones?! That sucks. I hope the ankle did actually benefit the "rest". Kudos to you for listening to your body.

    "I removed my head from my rear and shut things down" seriously had me laughing

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  19. I hate giving birth to kidney stones!

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