Broken, fractured, or just plain worn out?

Since completing the B2BS Challenge, I can count my runs on one hand. I try not to acknowledge the fact that I’m not only not running, but also not working out. It’s too depressing.

You may, or may not, be aware that I have been struggling with pain in both my ankles. The location of each [left lateral/outside of ankle and right medial/inside of ankle) makes total sense to me given that the post Hwy 1 collapse rerouted the Big Sur course to an out and back course. Subsequently, it was challenging at best to run in the centermost part of the highway to minimize the effect of the cambered road.

Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve gone back and forth on whether the pain warranted x-ray films. Since the pain in the right ankle has been nagging me even before Boston, I suspected that it would be the most likely to be x-rayed of the two. Oh…but they BOTH hurt. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to stop to me from doing anything.

Last night I discovered that even some yoga poses were painfully challenging (if not impossible). I withdrew from my efforts and crawled into my little child’s pose cocoon.

By morning, I was convinced that I could no longer delay the inevitable. Perhaps my body’s ability for self-healing has been depleted. Anyway, I drove to my physician’s office, wrote a message explaining my pain, and requested bilateral films. Hours later — or so it seemed — I was in the x-ray suite for standing films.

Not one, but three x-ray technicians stood by as the images were processing. “Oooh,” I heard one say just before he came out and asked me if by chance I was a runner. “Yes. Why?” I asked. But he was back behind the protective wall peering through the window as the 2nd image was taken. I smiled nervously as the process continued – hoping that the number of men in the room was the result of me wearing a skirt rather than something bad on my x-rays.

By the time the process was done, a 4th man was in the room. He, however, did not look my way. His focus was on my films. I assumed he was giving the final blessing that none of the views needed to be reimaged. And as charming and easy going as I tried to be, it was not enough to gain any insight whatsoever as to whether or not anything alarming was visible in the films.

Now, I wait to find out if it’s broken, fractured, or just plain worn out.
Tick, tick, tick….