My Achilles is a-killing me

After last Thursday's run, my right Achilles tendon was noticeably sore. I didn't think much of it - chalked it up to the aftereffects of a good run.

The next morning it was still sore but I don't recall spending much time worrying over it. By yesterday morning I had forgotten it had bothered me at all. That is, until I got home from my morning run and realized it really hurt.

Crap. Flashbacks of last year's Beacon-killing ankle injury come thundering.

Is it the shoes? My form? Just a random act of tendon transgression?

I e-mailed Reach the Beacon trainer Michael Gaige about it - he suggested I massage it (to stimulate 'the body's natural healing process') and stretch the Achilles frequently by flexing my ankle & holding for 3-4 seconds. I did that often yesterday.

This morning it was better, though the soreness seems to have crept over to the outside of the ankle instead. Damn.

Reminds me of a comment a friend made to me recently after gazing upon my absurdly thin feet (I think we were talking about our flip-flops at the time - nothing kinky). "How do you run on those razors?" she asked. And I laughed, of course, because if you get the visual right it's pretty darn funny.

But now I think maybe these razors ain't made fer runnin'.

But I also think maybe I'm being melodramatic. I sustain regular - and harmless - injuries on a routine basis. They're always lame, barely visible scrapes and bruises that don't amount to anything despite my attempts to build up the injury by thrusting the scabbed knee or scratched elbow into everyone's face and talking about it incesstantly.

The most recent of my physical calamities is an eyelash-sized cut on my finger given to me courtesy of a yogurt lid. Yes, a yogurt lid. How does that even happen? I don't know. I suppose that's what I get for going probiotic.

At any rate, I ditched the run this a.m., figuring that if I didn't aggravate the tendon it'd likely quit it's yapping in a day or two.