Don't Panic! Everything! Is! Under! Control!

Pictoral representation of earlier this week

Pre-Amble: Don't be scared. This post has a happy ending. Sorry for ruining it for you and not letting you get there yourself naturally, but I thought I'd just say that upfront because Run MeriG Run has had a lot of drama over the last 18 months. I'll let you know when the s**t really hits the fan, don't worry. This isn't it. Carry on.


My story begins where it left off after blogging on Sunday night:

I slept happily, blissfully, ignorantly that night and awoke Monday morning to some ankle pain. Just a lil' pain. No big deal.

I went to work at my big fancy job and -- while there being very busy and important -- started feeling a little sick. Flu-like sick. Whilest CNN reports that everyone and their mother has the flu. Egads.

The ankle went from bad to worse. I don't know if it was real pain, or if it was my mind playing REALLY MEAN tricks on me, but I felt like I could barely walk. My right achilles tendon (and to preemptively answer your question, that's the other ankle than from last time) was swollen. It actually creaked when I rotated the ankle. Sexy, huh? Creaky ankles?

I turned to the interwebs.

And then I got upset, promptly left work early and went to ice the foot and pray for a miracle.

That night I iced off and on, took some IB profin (to reduce swelling). I talked to Roomie Jen (who is running the Disney Marathon on Saturday! Holla'!) and emailed Team For Kids teammate Erica. Our [abridged and edited] correspondence was this:

Me:      AHHHHHHH ANKLE HELP ME WHAT DO I DO!?
Erica:   AHHHHHHHH I DON'T KNOW I DON'T KNOW MY IT BAND IS ACTING UP TOO AHHHHH AM I HELPING YOU
Me:      Yes! Xoxo.

I made sure to keep the ankle elevated all night even while I slept.

Archie, why you gotta be so creepy?

And I continued to pray.

Tuesday morning I woke up and miraculously....no pain. The cold? Full blown. But we can deal with that by buying CVS out of to-go tissues, zicam, Emergen-C and Tylenol Cold. This is the Common Cold we have on our hands, folks. As long as it's not the flu? We're good to go. And it's not.

The ankle, though....That could have kept me out for the long haul.

I did a short little test run Wednesday and so far so good. The cold is still knockin' me down, so lots of soup and TV and mouth-breathing for me right now and not as much running as I'd like. But that's okay. As many wise people have said to me, I've done -- at this point -- all I can do. Any incremental workout CAN NOT help. It, in fact, could only potentially hurt me.

Why did my ankle freak out on Monday? Who knows. Yes, I ran 20 miles on Sunday. And yes, perhaps this was just my body being like, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?!?!" but you'll have to trust me when I say that it hurt more than normal post-stupid-long-run pain. And that it has miraculously gone away. :::shrug::::

Why, yes! This IS a poorly rendered image of the Lord saying "you're welcome" to me. Glad you like it. Or have labeled me as blasphemous. One of the two.

Is it the ideal way to start the taper? No. But I'm hoping that my nostrils will clear enough for me to do some miles with the TFK girls this weekend.

Who nose!

(heehee)

I kid. As optimistic as I truly try to be, I also want to be real with you, faithful Run MeriG, Run reader.

Marathon running...is ridiculous. And kind of a bad idea. If I had to give a thesis for my blog at this point, that it is. If I ever change my header from the Barney Stinson quote, it will be to that.

New proposed header for Run, MeriG. Run.

You can train and train and train and train for months on end and a rogue "ankle" or "hurricane" can end it for you.

And the same goes now for Miami. We've lost some good men along the way. Miriam blogged today that she is out of the running and one of the other girls I've been training with was benched for several weeks due to the flu and doesn't know what she's going to do.

As Miriam so eloquently wrote, "

I think that by remembering the joy I find in running and the relaxation it brings is a healthier way to approach the hobby and the lifestyle that I enjoy"

So true. Ultimately I've learned that, and I've written about that before. The Marathon may be something you do, on a particular day, to push yourself. But really it's about the process that got you there and all the heartache and the good and the bad and the ugly that comes with it. You do what you can to stay healthy and to stay strong...but sometimes even that is out of your control.

Which is why I am not guaranteeing y'all a marathon until I'm at that starting line. Until the gun has gone off. And then I'll be like, "okay, cool, I'll run a marathon today."

And -- after all these trials and tribulations -- is it so much to expect that this is going to be the end result?: