Achilles

This picture is of Brad Pitt as Achilles. See how lovely it is?

This picture is of the Achilles tendon. It's a hell of a lot less sexy than Brad Pitt. Mine is even less sexy at the moment, because the bastard is injured.

Ugh.

The pain started after today's run, which was actually an easy one. It was only three miles, I didn't run too hard, and I kept my route flat. The culprit, no doubt, was the 10K run I did yesterday, on a course that was described -- accurately -- as "hilly and challenging." Now, several hours and 8 Advil after the run, it still hurts, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without swearing.

I have, over the years, run through plenty of injuries. Shin splints, well, those were no one's fault but my own. I ran the state cross country meet my sophomore year with a pulled muscle in my groin (hot). I plodded along with stress fractures for quite a while. But this one I am not screwing around with. I'm going to take off as much time as I need, down plenty of Advil, ice it, massage it with Icy Hot, buy some orthotics for my shoes, and generally baby it as much as I need to. Because I've decided to run the Des Moines marathon in October, and the last thing I need is to hurt myself worse later on down the line.

It's killing me to think I won't be able to go on my long run on Saturday, but I know it's for the best.