Back in the saddle . . . maybe

Hi all. Sorry that I have not been keeping you up to date on my goings on and musings. Up until yesterday (Sunday), I had only run once in close to 2 weeks and that one run was a slow run with Shelly and was painful. I guess I did something to strain my left calf. I have never had pain in that area of my body before (not counting cramps which I have not had in years, BTW). Of course it makes sense that the older I get the greater the chances of pains in different body parts. Anway . . . at first I was concerned that it might be a high achilles strain but after pinpointing the pain and doing a little research and self diagnosis (we runners are VERY good doctors!), I determined that it was indeed my calf. Densest muscle in the body. Tough to hurt and tough to heal. As discussed with Phil, I was trying to keep it iced on a regular schedule. Unfortunately for me, my stomach (and GI Dr.) does not like NSAIDs so I am stuck just taking Tylenol for pain. Cannot take anti-inflammatories. Bummer. One of my buddies is a High School football coach here in Alabama and he swears by something that I have never tried . . . are you familiar with DMSO?http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm
It's a solvent that is used as a horse linament. FDA has not approved it for use as a linament but it has been shown to work on humans in other parts of the world. No suprise . . . FDA is a government agency and in typical fashion, they are very progressive (yeah, right). So I decided to give it a try. There are varying strengths in gel and liquid forms. My dad had also tried it and some left over so he just gave me what he had. I am not sure if it was the rest, the ice, the DMSO or a combination but my calf started feeling better by this past weekend.

I had decided to sideline myself until today (Monday) but I was feeling pretty good and was going absolutely crazy. To top things off, Susan had done 8+ miles on Saturday and was wanting do to more on Sunday after church. With much caution and reservation I pulled 'em on, laced 'em up, and went for a jog with Susan. The first mile I was sort of gingerly tiptoeing through my run expecting to pull up lame at any time. However, after a mile, my leg felt fine. hmmmmm . . . . maybe it's healed? second mile . . no problems. Third, fouth and fifth miles went by with no problems. SUPER. No pain. Let's double check it . . . Susan and I shot basketball after our run. This also included me jumping for rebounds, trying to dunk (don't laugh), and just doing a lot of lateral, forward and backward movement. NO PROBLEMS (except that I could not dunk!). The plan is now to ease into this week. No hills. No speed work. Just work on base miles with maybe a 10 or 12 miler on Saturday. We'll see how it goes.

Susan came over for dinner on Sunday night and I fixed a ham, onion, cheddar-jack cheese fritata. Actually, it was a crustless quiche but does it really matter? I introduced her to perhaps the best TV show . . . 24. I didn't think that she would like since she's not much of a TV watcher but I think that she might be hooked. Give it a try if you haven't seen it.

Oh yeah . . . I'm blogging during a break at work. Today if MLK JR day and we get today off as a holiday but I decided to work. Only a handfull of folks here and I can get a lot done with no interruptions. It is like I can do 12 hours worth of work in an 8 hour day.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!