Sports Injury

Perhaps I have never been hardcore in any sports or outdoor activities that I take part in. I have been pretty good at staying away from sports injury. The closest injury that I suffered from was my knee pain towards the end of Trailwalker. It went away after a week or two's rest. Oh, prior to that, I've also injured my knee from downhill skiing one time. That time I had a pretty bad fall on some pretty bad snow - it was only 3 centimetres of snow on top of one thick sheet of ice throughout. I landed with my whole body's weight at a pretty fast speed on one single knee. That pain lasted for 3 months.

Despite having had a teenage fantasy of having my leg broken, wrapped in a leg cast, and walking with crutches, I haven't had the chance to experience it. If you ask me now, I do not want to ever experience it anymore - not at my age now. I wouldn't want to miss out the fun and I wouldn't want to deal with atrophy of my leg. Injury at my age probably also means a permanently incomplete recovery.

Well, when I finally got my butt off to do some serious training for my half marathon two weeks ago, I did it a little too seriously. I had a lot of fun training, but I certainly overdid it and didn't allow enough recovery between trainings. I ended up straining a tendon. After one week's rest, I still felt pain. I was referred to a foot massage therapist who had lots of experience treating injured runners.

God... was it painful! The massage therapist ran his fingers through my lower legs. He felt my injury and asked if that was the spot. I said yes. And instantly he increased his strength tenfold and applied direct pressure at the exact spot that gave me the most pain! I thought I was pretty good at taking pain - until I had my first, real foot massage session! I must've had my most unbearable 50 minutes with the therapist. There were a few times when I really wanted to give the therapist a good kick with my other free leg. I think the massage therapist found my silliness pretty amusing. I had a good laugh and swear too. And some cold sweat as well. Seriously. If there's someone you hate, take him out for a foot massage.

My leg's full of bruises today. But it's a good pain. I hope it'll eventually cure my other foot problems, including ones resulting from wearing high heels for an extended period of time and other strains I had from Trailwalker. I need a good massage for my shoulders as well. They have been really painful lately. The injury up there is probably more serious than what I have for my legs.