Stop the screaming!

Apparently dancing for 3+ hours on your tippy-toes for 3 straight nights isn't that great for your calves, as I found out yesterday during my 12 mile long run. I was doing great for about the first 7 or 8 miles. I ran with Carmen & we were keeping up a pretty good pace. I was feeling good! When we got to downtown, we were testing ourselves by running some sections hard, getting our heart rates up there, then walking, repeating it over again each block as we ran through the streets of downtown Houston. (Btw... I LOVE running through downtown Houston at sunrise. It's SO peaceful.) However, by the time we were on our way back to the park & made it to the water stop at Waugh & Memorial, my left calf was SCREAMING. When I got back from vacation, that same calf was sore & tight, but I figured it would be fine by the long run.

I was wrong.

It was tightening up more & more with each step. I kept stopping to stretch, but it just seemed to make it worse. We pretty much did the "mall walk" for the last 2 miles, which was hard, because when I just walk, my back starts to hurt. I had to figure out which was the lesser of the 2 evils. The back pain was easier to deal with, so I kept walking.

When I got home & tried to get out of my car, I screamed out in pain. It was the world's worst charlie-horse in my calf EVER. I couldn't get the spasm to stop. I got inside & tried to massage the pain away but it didn't work. I took an ice bath, followed by a nice warm shower, which seemed to help, then I tried to roll it out with my stick. OW! OW! OW!!! The only thing that really helped was about 4 Ibuprofin & a 2 hour nap with my leg up. It's still pretty sore today, but at least now I can walk without a limp. Hopefully it'll be better by Tuesday. We have hill training that day & that can be a killer if I still have bad calves. Hopefully that won't be a problem. *crosses fingers*