This morning they are running against Melanoma, and I sit here typing.

Grrr!

A week ago, I wrote about how after a race and a two-hour drive, my hips had tightened up to a degree I didn’t think was possible. I have taken the past week off of running, done some stretching, and a little light working out. Yesterday, I headed over to the YMCA and spent five minutes on the treadmill as a warmup to a weightlifting work out. That all went most okay. I was little tight, but it wasn’t awful.

So, my plan was to wake up this morning and see how I felt. If I was good to go, I would run the Melanoma 5K Run/Walk for Hope, which is part of the Race Around Waltham Series. I set the alarm, went to bed reasonably early, and woke up this morning. I felt mostly good, but my heels were hurting enough that I decided to skip the race.

For about the past month, I have had heel pain that would go away when I warmed up and stretched a little bit. It was worst in the morning right after I woke up. I have to believe that the hips and heels are related.

So, I skipped my second race this season this morning. I know that the medicine for this is movement, but I don’t think it is race movement. Walking and stretching and short jogs seem to be the road to recovery.

How do you handle forced layoffs? Any suggestions? I have about two weeks to get back to normal before the next race opportunity.