Running Chick

The good news: my calf is all better. The bad news: my shin splints (MTSS) are back I did three runs this week, but it's become pretty obvious that if I don't take a bit of time off to rest them, there will be no Eagle River HM for me. **sigh, grr** I was really hoping that this time I'd be able to make it through training without anything major, but it's just not to be. **depression** At least it looks like it's going to be good bike riding all next week so between that, the elliptical machine at the gym and turbo yoga, I'll be able to keep my fitness level up. That's good. But man, this is FRUSTRATING!

I successfully completed three pain-free, conservative (read slow) miles on the dreadmill today. Holla!

I was a little afraid of reinjuring my calf, so I took it really easy and wore the calf sleeve I picked up last summer. It's supposed to do things such as keep the muscle warm and provide compression and support which are all good for a calf injury. At least that's what the doctor told me when he advised me to get one. Seeing as how my calf stayed attached throughout my run, I can only assume it did it's job.

Anyhoo, tomorrow I'll attempt four miles. I don't know if I'll do it on the dreadmill or not, I'll let the weather determine that. Speaking of weather, Ma Winter can't decide whether she wants to give up or not. We had snow yesterday and today and it's also on the forecast for tomorrow. The temps have been in the mid-to-high 30's so what snow we've been getting hasn't been sticking around, but it leaves us in a constant of wet and sloppy roads. That's no fun for running. If I do run outside tomorrow, I'll have to pick a hill-less route that's calf-friendly. That'll take me at least half the day messing around on www.mapmyrun.com.

Oh, new gear! The Superfeet insoles that I got a couple of weeks ago weren’t so super on my feet so back to www.runningwarehouse.com they went. The UPS guy dropped these babies off today:

I’ve used them before with no issues, and bonus - they don’t need trimming.  I’ll be taking them for their first spin tomorrow.

Shameless plug:  www.runningwarehouse.com 

I’m completely in love with this store.  Their prices are great, they have **free 2-day shipping** and they’ll even return, for a full refund, trimmed, worn insoles.  I’ve spent so much money there in the last two weeks that I’ve put myself on time-out from their web site.  Hopefully there are just as many other runners out there as addicted to it as I am and their business won’t go under because of my hiatus.

Let’s hope, anyway. 

Since I'm a gimp, I have nothing newsworthy to report on the running front. But, I did get my hair did! Two hours in the chair and and way too much money later, here's my new color. Actually, colors because I think there's three different ones in there. I think my stylist did pretty well, considering that I give her no input whatsoever other than to tell her to make my hair not look like crap anymore. On the running front, my calf seems to be doing pretty well. I'm not sure if it wasn't as bad of an injury as I initially thought (although not being able to walk certainly had me assuming the worst), or maybe I just took care of it the right way for once (12 hours of continual icing and Ibuprofen, (and booze) followed by two days of light stretching), but in any event, it's feeling good enough to attempt a run on the treadmill tomorrow. I hope it doesn't fall off. That would be unpleasant.