The Splints

Thursday I found out that I can run 3.5 miles in 48 minutes without stopping once. I must admit, I felt incredible that night and had difficulties falling asleep -I was sooo excited. So, the following day, I head off to the gym and figure that I am going to do the exact same thing. LOL! By the time I hit my 2nd mile I knew I was going to be plagued by shin splints. (See, I am familiar with shin splints. In May of 2000, I began to lose weight by running on the streets of Butzbach and experienced shin splints at that time. They were extremely painful because I made several attempts to run through the pain. In return, I was out of commission for several days. This time though, I am much wiser -or so I thought.)

As I said, when I hit that second mile I felt pains in my left leg shin but I ignored it. By the time I hit 2.3 miles, I was limping on the treadmill and had to push the red stop button. And to make things worse, not much has changed because when I got in the gym today and attempted to run, within the first five minutes on the treadmill, I was forced to end my session.

The thing is my goal does not afford me to lose sight of how important it is to take care of my body. My body is my friend. It is what I need to succeed and one or two days of ignoring what my friend is trying to convey to me, may lead to something really disastrous. I don't want that, so tomorrow I am going to walk my three miles around the neighborhood. Then Monday, I may be healthy enough to resume regular workout. I hope so anyway.