find each others light

I hope it's nothing serious. Hopefully a little rest, ice, and ibuprofen will have it better by tomorrow. No point making it worse though. Good luck -

I'm taking your advice. Dang it! I feel like I jinxed myself by telling how many miles I had to run this week. oh well. Thanks JD.

i'm sorry, stacie. hopefully it is just something minor like a tweaked muscle or tendinitis. or even shin splints. that can usually go away with rest, ice, stretching, anti-inflammatories, etc...

a couple of things to look out for:

-when you press on the area that is painful, does it hurt? can you pinpoint a specific spot on your leg that is really tender and painful to touch? (especially feel around your bone -- press hard on it)

-when you run, does the pain stay about the same, does it slowly "numb" away after you warm up, or does it get worse?

-if someone asked you to hop on your hurt leg, could you do it (in my experience, just thinking about doing that would make me cringe -- i knew it was impossible without even trying)

-try walking on your heels for two minutes, then switching and walking on your toes. repeat this 2-3 times and see if that helps anything feel better. it may just be that your lower legs are tight and you need to loosen them up.

-if you feel pain with each step that doesn't get better, please, please don't try to run through it. if this is the beginning of a stress fracture (which i sincerely hope it is not), you can probably remedy it with a week or so of rest and cross-training. i wasted an entire month 'experimenting' with my leg and going back and forth from hurting to not hurting. i just made it worse and i was kidding myself the whole time. a little bit of rest now is much better than a forced, extended break later. take care stacie, and please keep us updated.

Wow. Thanks so much Allie. On Friday after my run it did hurt when I pressed on it. It also got worse as I ran the last 5 miles. Now that I've rested for 2 days it's feeling better. I can hop on it and I will try the walking on the heels and toes right now. Awesome advice! Thank you! Will keep resting and then I think I'll do a less intense training for SGM. This really scared me. So much for the 50 mile week.

i am glad it is feeling better. no worries about the 50 mile week -- it's good to discover what your body can and cannot handle in training, and it does take a bit of trial and error. i spent a good portion of 2009 injured because i was pushing my training to new levels that i hadn't reached in the past. it turns out that i don't handle high mileage well (at all!). since then i have been able to tweak my training and find the best balance for my body (for now anyway). just do whatever amount you can while still staying healthy -- that will be the best plan for you to get to the starting line injury-free and ready to roll. good luck and i hope your shin continues to improve. heel/toe! heel/toe!

Wow Stacie that stinks! But awesome to have allie on here to help! allie, you are awesome! Stacie, I hope you feel better!!