If you’re a regular reader, you may recall that I’ve been struggling with some athletic injuries in the last six months or so. If you’re not, I’ll summarize quickly because there’s not all that much to it: I ran a trail marathon and it was hard. Then I signed up for a 50k, but then my foot started falling asleep, which seemed bad. Also my right IT band always hurts. I briefly thought I had plantar fasciitis.

So. I went to a chiropractor. I tried a brace. I stopped walking around the house barefoot. I ran less. I had an MRI of my brain. I saw a neurologist. I got new shoes, which helped a lot. Still, I saw the neurologist again, and he did an EMG test, which meant shocking me a few dozen times to see how many axons were firing (right? I think) and sticking needles in various muscle groups. It was all fairly uncomfortable.

Then the neurologist told me I maybe shouldn’t run.

“Some people just aren’t cut out to be distance runners,” he explained, as if not enjoying running distances had ever stopped me before. He recommended taking at least three months off from running altogether to let my peroneal nerve damage heal, and reconsider after that whether I really wanted to run long distances.

I held back tears of frustration until I left his office.

“Running is like, the only way I can stay sane!” I whined into the phone with Bix. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

See a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, maybe. (Any recommendations?) Try acupuncture. I know I still have options. But I’m still sick of having a foot that falls asleep, and I’m really sick of not running.

In the meantime, here is my attempt at staying positive. Here are some things that aren’t so bad about not running at the moment:

• Not running every day means I don’t have to shower every day
• Having an athletic injury is probably the most legitimately athletic thing about me
• My dog turns into a gremlin when he doesn’t get a long run in so that’s been fun
• Okay no it hasn’t
• Okay I’m gonna try this for real now
• More time climbing. Yesterday I even went to the gym alone at lunchtime and bouldered. Who am I?!
• I finally understand how to work the rowing machine at the gym. The rowing part is no problem, but I’ve historically had some trouble getting the monitor to tell me what’s going on so now I actually know when I’ve rowed 1,000m instead of just watching Bix and stopping when he’s done
• I’ve gotten lots of compliments on my hideous new shoes, which I wear everywhere as if to say, I will run again one of these days! Mostly they are things like, “Oh, they’re not as bad as I thought!”
• Very productive at work
• Once I’m not injured anymore I swear I’ll really appreciate being healthy

Okay. I’m not feeling all that positive. Maybe I’ll change my tune sometime in the next three months or so. In the meantime, if you have ever had peroneal nerve damage, pretty please tell me all about it. Unless it’s bad news, in which case I’m not interested.