Tight calves, numb feet, and the power of prayer

I am surprised that I haven't updated my blog in an entire week. Well, work week anyway. I want to say a lot has happened in the past week, because it feels that way. But really, not lot has happened. I completed a jog of 3.7 miles Wednesday night, but I am using all of those phrases very loosely -- it was not really a jog, I barely completed it, it wasn't really Wednesday, and so on. Honestly, the whole thing was a mess. My calves tightened up within a half-mile, and although the soreness did not preclude me from running, it did get fairly excruciating at points. Oddly, the trouble this time was really with my left calf, specifically with a band of muscle that got so inflamed that I could actually see it swelling and pushing out my skin. Not a pleasant sight.

Oh yeah, remember how a few weeks ago my right foot and outside of my lower right leg went numb? Yeah, about that... this time it happened in both legs. Yes, that's right, after about 1.7 miles both of my legs started to go numb. As you might imagine, this made training difficult. It was distracting to try to practice proper form while I could not feel my god damn feet! I sat down for about five minutes outside the National Cathedral and prayed to Jesus for sweet, sweet relief.

Well, I wasn't really praying, and if I had it would not have been to this so-called "Jesus" character; it would probably have been to Obama. But anyway, that's all beside the point because I did not pray. I just rested. And after a few minutes, the feeling in my legs came back, and I was able to run the last mile or so -- with a liberal amount of walking.

The point is, I am a mess. Things are tight and numb and just plain rotten. But I persevere, because I am some sort of masochist, or something. Or maybe it's because I know things will get better as my fitness level increases, my legs become more used to carrying my weight, and for that matter, my weight drops. I know I am about 30 pounds heavier than my ideal. And I also know, from experience, that once I reach my ideal, the problems with my calves virtually disappear.

Unfortunately, I don't see how I can drop 30 pounds before the Cherry Blossom 5K, which is just over two weeks from now. Looks like I'm going to have to learn how to run through excruciating calf pain and numb feet...

Or pray to Obama.