When is a pain an injury? I went for another mild run through the Berkshire twilight this evening, intent on blasting a path through a headful of Visual Basic cul de sacs. That part of the outing went pretty well. I won’t know till tomorrow if I’ve solved anything, but I’ve come up with some new angles from which to attack the fiends in my code.
Less pleasing was returning home with a pulsating pain above my right heel. Achilles territory.
Running injuries are a mystery to me. Even the names seem like a foreign language. Or newly-discovered stars at the tradesman’s end of the solar system. Iliotibial Band Syndrome, Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles Tendonitis. Whatever happened to the Runner’s Knee and Athlete’s Foot of my youth?
The fact is that in 4 years of running, I’ve suffered only once or twice from a proper injury. The Reading Half, 2003. I got a bit enthusiastic over the final mile, and managed to overdo it in a thoroughly uncharacteristic way. I’d probably have been alright if I’d not done the Silverstone race the week before, but two half marathons in 8 days had put a strain on the lumbering infrastructure, and this drawn-out semi-sprint was just too much for it. A couple of days later, while out on a recovery run, the calf just went. I took a half-hearted week or two off then tried again and it got worse. It took a few more months to finally kill it. And that’s about the extent of my injury history.
But anyway. When is a pain an injury? When it doesn’t go away, I suppose. Let’s wait and see.
