My Achilles Heel

And I'm referring to my real physical Achilles' heel, here. I'm not referring to a metaphor to my fatal weaknesses (I do have a few) or the mythological reference. But my Achilles tendon... is hurting. And I don't actually know how I caused this. Well, not really. I was doing my usual thing at work yesterday (sitting, typing, eating, on the phone, eating, blogging, eating, etc) and felt this soreness in the back of my right ankle in the afternoon. I thought maybe I wasn't sitting properly so I shifted a little but, stretched my ankle and ignored it. I also thought it could be my very cute black slingback heels that were pressing into my ankle. But the dull pain didn't go away. I got home and I iced it and it felt better. And this morning, it felt fine. Sometime this afternoon, the ache returned. Aron told me that her husband had suffered from Achilles tendonitis, too! Apparently, Achilles tendonitis is caused by from lack of stretching (especially calves) after running. Oh and as soon as she mentioned this, I had flashbacks of the few long runs that I did in the past week where I didn't stretch after! (I was rushing off somewhere after I squeezed in a run here and there.) My husband also told me that your Achilles tendon gets shorter and shorter as you get older. I just didn't think that would happen to me! And now, I'm paying for it. Dammit, dammit, dammit. My Achilles tendon is very sore and I have a hard time bending it forward and back. Walking is kinda painful, actually. And I'm really worried. I have races coming up! Aron did give me a stretching tip to alleviate the tightness... I just tried it but I looked kinda silly doing that in my cube at work. Ha!

So yes, I am planning on resting it, YET another day. This will be my 3rd day of none running. But better off my feet now than be out for 6 months.

With this new injury, I'll have to be flexible with my running schedule. This is now my TENTATIVE upcoming running/race schedule:

9/27 - Sail & Trail Run at Angel Island 10 miles (With a local running group - Yes, sailing again on Saturday!)
9/28 - Almaden Times Classic Run 10k (Was planning on signing up today)
10/5 - Rock n Roll Half Marathon San Jose (I'm signed up!)
10/19 - Nike Women's Marathon SF (I gave up the idea but wanted to throw that in, I don't know why...!)
10/26 - Metro Silicon Valley Marathon (Contemplating the half)

Now, I have to play all of them by ear and see... :-/