About halfway through physical therapy, I started to experience increasing soreness and tenderness in my left calf and along my lower left tibia. Needling wasn’t helping and the additional exercises the physical therapists prescribed for my calf weren’t exactly working, but my left hamstring, piriformis, and adductor muscles felt great at this point. At my next appointment with my orthopedist (timeline check–this appointment was about six weeks after the 8k and at the end of my PT, so right in line with when stress fractures show up), he suspected a stress reaction or a stress fracture and ordered a MRI.

photo: digital cat 

At this point, I only had a week or so left in school and husband was home for a bit between trips. I had stopped working out and was feeling like a slob. It was time to graduate, enjoy time with husband, and figure out my summer work out plan since running was out of the question.

I have a follow-up appointment next week with the orthopedist. I’m currently experiencing minimal calf and tibia pain. That being said, I’ll probably not run again until 2013 since I think I need to reformulate my gait.

Running is awesome. Injuries are bad. Next time, I’ll pay more attention to my body to reduce the chances of any future injuries.