Just when you then you're hot stuff...

You sprain your ankle.

This is what happened:

I had run 2 miles, then did about 10 minutes of aerobic intervals (sprint, recover, jog, sprint). It was 6:30 am, the sun was rising, the weather cool and a little breezy, perfect for a run. I'm hearing some ramped up version of Enya on my IPOD, thinking about how my training manual talked about not pushing yourself too hard doing the aerobic intervals because that spells I-N-J-U-R-Y. Hah, I nearly said out loud. Injury? Not me. And in that moment, slow-motion like, I land. On my ankle. and then land on the knee of the opposing leg. Then nearly kiss the gravel with my forehead. Not pretty or graceful. Embarrassing really.

I then sit there, in the driveway of some poor sap who is no doubt looking out his window thinking, "What the devil is that woman doing sitting on my driveway? Especially at this hour?!" And I'm thinking, "Death. Sweet death. Where are you? I want to die." (Melodrama is my forte, can you tell?). I was sure my ankle snapped in half. Mind you, aside from all three births of my children and a little accident that involved me falling out of a tree house when I was six years old and breaking both of my wrists, I'm not accustomed to physical pain. So after the initial searing pain, I think, breath through the pain, it'll go away. So I begin my yogic breathing, "Inhale, expand, Exhale, release..." followed by the horrific thought that my plans to run this glorious half-marathon would have to be scrapped because I'm a big dope and broke my ankle. No, I didn't break it, I reassured myself. Give me a few more minutes, I'll walk this off, and I'll be fine. So after a few minutes of this nonsensical thinking, I get up, hobble for a bit, then think, I still have 2 more miles I'm supposed to run. The schedule says I have to run 4 miles. And being a strict one for schedules, I put Enya back in my ear, and go on my merry way.

I don't tell you this to say, "Look at me. Look at how strong and brave, and cool I am." No my friend, I'm telling you, if you go running, and you roll/sprain/break your ankle, whatever you do, no matter what your brain tells you, do not continue to run. I know, it's sounds so logical now. But what I didn't know then, that I know now, is that these things (ankles) swell up after a bit, and things actually get worse, especially if you use it.