Roots, rocks, and what they do to ankles

As today had the warmest temperatures we've had in a looong time, (high 40's at noon) I thought it'd be nice to do some trail running today. So I hit up the mountain bike trails! I ran 5 miles, and the last 2 quite painfully. I always always always never cease to find a good, big root or rock to twist my bad ankle or jam my knee on. I guess nothing less should be expected as it is trail running... but still!



Here you can see some of those painful root drops :S



In hopes of at least helping the oh-so-common sharp ankle pain, I stopped at the end of mile 4 to roll it out and massage it some. I made it about 3/4 of that mile with it feeling... fair, I suppose... but as for the last 1/4 mile, I might as well have hopped on one foot all the way back! It was preeetty bad. It's like a large needle poking through your skin, except from underneath it! My knee is actually feeling the same way. :/ I think I had that ever popular end of a race "I'm about to puke" look on my face. And it wasn't like I could just end it right there... 1) I was out in the middle of some trails! And 2) I was motivated to much to finish it. ;)  No pain or muscle cramps were going to stop me. Being chilly, yet burning up on the inside was not going to stop me. No crazy steep hills were going to stop me. I knew I was finishing that run, and I was pretty excited about it!



One of the dreaded short and steep hills



And I did finish the run! With everything but my ankle and knee feeling strong! So overall I am very pleased with how it went... despite re-twisting that stinking ankle, and jamming some knee joints. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out because of the coldish weather!

After running, I went to our church gym to play basketball and whatnot with some friends. And it lasted alllll afternoon. My legs were on FIRE from all the running around! So. Much. Soreness! Not sure how well I'll be walking tomorrow... :S Basically, as soon as I got out of bed this morning I never stopped moving. But it was a fun and full day! Hopefully I'll be alive enough to do at least some workout tomorrow...

Thanks all for reading!
Anna G