Falling Apart

In the last four weeks, I’ve ran three times. I’m not counting walking episodes, or short runs of a mile or so, of which there have been several. I’m talking full, five kilometer runs. I backed off because my calves had been hurting for months and refused to heal while I was actively running thrice per week. Well, I have been successful. Somewhat. But only when it comes to my calves.

Within days of stopping my runs, my plantar fasciitis, which had largely become a non-issue, reared its ugly head.  It has gotten bad enough that I’m back to sleeping in the night splint socks. Which is rapidly putting the monster back to sleep.

Two weeks ago, my calves showed significant improvement, but still caused enough pain following a run that I decided to take another week off.

Last week, my first run was pretty good. I was off my pace a bit, but my calves only grumbled quietly. But the day I was supposed to do my second run of the week, I ended up at the doctor’s office with a painfully full bowel. To say the least, there was no more running that week.

About the time I started having intestinal difficulties, I noticed that I was having pain in my left hip when I repositioned myself in bed. At first, I didn’t realize that it was my hip. I thought it was groin, or groin-adjacent, and caused by whatever was making me feel like I’d been kicked in the nuts. Well, that problem is long gone, but I still hurt when I toss and turn in bed. For the record, mag citrate is very effective, and not nearly as unpleasant as its reputation would have you believe, as long as you are prepared for what will happen.

When I went for my run yesterday, my hip started to hurt almost immediately, followed shortly thereafter by my lower back. I assume that my back pain is either related to whatever the fuck is causing my hip to hurt, or I was trying to compensate for the hip pain and somehow caused a problem in my back. I was able to finish the three miles, but with the pathetic pace of 15:48 per mile. My calves barely noticed.

My next race is this coming Sunday. And my body is falling apart. I will run it, but I will probably come in dead last by about twenty minutes. After that, my running may be over. I’ve been doing this for five months. My cardio-vascular health is probably as good as it’s ever been in my life. But every time I turn around, something new hurts. I’m not sure it’s worth it. I’m not a fan of pain.

Anybody have any recommendations for a good entry-level road bicycle? I plan to continue my fitness journey, but I need something less traumatic for my decrepit old body.