Damnit

Welp, I may be buggered.

Thanks to this crap.

I was hopeful last week that I could get through this build in training without messing myself up. It was all going pretty well, really...up until the stupid ice storm that set in on Saturday.

I wanted to get in 10 miles, and so I picked a bit of rail trail very close to home that I could just go out and back. Two problems: first of all, the ice pellets were forming horrible slush puddles and snow that meant there was no such thing as a groomed, stable surface for me to run on anywhere.

All of the footprints are mine, though I did see one other fellow out running on my first lap.

Then there was the brutal, gusting wind driving ice pellets into my face across the open fields beside the main trail. So, in order to hide from it, I hit the side trails..

Very pretty and much more sheltered, but not exactly easy on the stabilizer muscles.

I made it through the 10 miles I wanted without messing myself up, then we braved the weather (probably stupidly) to go to show in Toronto. Having survived the round trip on icy roads, it was with no joy whatsoever that we surveyed the freezing rain falling the next day. We nearly drowned between the car and the grocery store, while almost being tossed off our feet by gusts of wind. Nevertheless, I wanted to do my final long-ish back-to-back runs before a stupid 18k road race next week, so I managed to convince myself to get out for a run around our block.

I was just about to step out the door when we heard a bang that seemed to shake the whole universe.

Umm, that doesn't look right.

Nope - definitely not performance.

A huge chunk of our Manitoba maple tree had broken off and fallen on our shed, with the tops of the branches resting on the roof of the house. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be damaged apart from the shed, and since I was already dressed to go...I went.

In spite of a distinct lack of sidewalk anywhere.

It was kind of pretty..

I ran around our block 10 times, wearing trail shoes and actually managing not to slip very much despite not having bothered with spikes. I even felt ok when I was finished, and was quite pleased with myself for getting it done in the face of truly terrible conditions.

Including a jacket that I'm not sure can even be legitimately called "water resistant" anymore..

Where it all seemed to go wrong was Monday - a fairly awful day. We awoke to the same awful road conditions of the night before, with added freezing time. We clearly weren't going to work as our street was unplowed, and we needed to get a tree service to come as soon as possible to get the huge limb off the shed and roof before it snapped and took out the rear windows of the house.

By late afternoon we'd finally been plowed, and even did a little shopping for a new shed. I also decided that, since I was feeling ok and the roads were now fairly open, I'd go for one more short, easy run to try to clear my head a bit.

Sweet, merciful PAVEMENT!

..and apparently that was the last straw, because since then I've been having real trouble with my right peroneals. I tried taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, which wasn't too much of a challenge since the weather continues to be cold and crappy, but it's supposed to be a wonderful spring weekend and I'm not sure I'll be able to run at all...let alone go frolic in the woods.

So, everyone else get out there and enjoy the lovely weather. I've got a bit of advice on how I might be able to address this awful pain and weakness in the outside of my lower leg, so with any luck, maybe I'll be able to join you..

Please..?

I've got every available appendage crossed that I haven't messed myself up too severely - it will be absolutely crushing to go from my return from a torn up ankle to sidelined again by a stupid bit of tendinopathy, especially after all the work I've put in to try to make my stabilizer muscles stronger. I'm hoping this is just a momentary setback, as race season is fast approaching..