It’s that time of year again. Time for the frito lays that try to pass themselves off as my ankle bones, to splinter and crack under the enormous weight of my expansive 4 foot 10 inch frame.

Late summer/fall of 2013 and 2014 were both marked by a stressed out fractured left ankle. Air boots and MRIs and missed races (and the genesis of this blog) gave way to new training plans and calcium and vitamin D horse pills and vows that it would not happen again.

And good news! It is basically September, and my left ankle is great. No pain, apparently fracture-free, and worry-free!

Bad news! My right ankle is all sorts of not right.

I don’t know when the problems started. There is pain coming from the outside of the leg just above the actual ankle bone itself, and then some more from the inside on my lower tibia. No idea when the former began; I have a vague idea that a month or so ago I noticed some pain to the touch there and assumed it was a bruise because of how I have no depth perception and walk into things all day long. It didn’t hurt from walking or running at all so I didn’t think it was anything more than clumsiness.

The tibial pain started as a dull ache a few months ago and I was pretty sure it was a pre-stress fracture pain. So I took a couple weeks off running, and it went away. It’s been fine since. Once in a while there’s maybe a quick twinge but nothing lasting and none of the bad pain where you know (in your bones) that you need to call the doc. (You know my doctor does NOT want to see me ever again too.)

Then last weekend, I went for my long run – 11 miles last Saturday – and felt great…until mile 10. Literally felt fab till the last freaking mile. When I got home I RICE’d it and tried to do everything right. The rest of that day I was pretty limpy, but Sunday felt a lot better, and the rest of the week as I stayed off it, it seemed to improve. I didn’t do any plyo, even making my bootcamp students demo high-impact moves so that I could give my leg a full recovery week. It felt good to go yesterday so I took it out for a whopping 1.59 mile spin. Andddddddd…

…NOPE. Felt fine the first mile, but that point-five-niner was apparently just too much. And on top of the tibial pain, suddenly I could feel the bruise on the outside of my ankle every time I put weight on my right foot. That is a new and unwelcome sensation.

Now both pains are working together to make fall 2015 potentially my worst yet – if for no other reason than I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited for a race than I am for the NYC Marathon.  I’ve sat out Marine Corps the past two years, but I WILL NOT sit this one out. If I have to walk/skip/crawl/cry the whole way it is going to happen. But pretty clearly, my BQ is not.

It also looks like I’m going to have to sit out my favorite race, Augusta 70.3, because I am selling my condo and the hubs and I are buying a row home and we’re closing on both that weekend. The silverish (polished grey?) lining there is that I learned my lesson last year and bought IM’s new race insurance this time around.

That just leaves Nation’s, Army 10 Miler, and NYC for 2015. I’ll be looking to front load 2016. Might as well just start planning to be laid up by the time the leaves change each season. Nations is an olympic distance and it’s two weeks from today, so I think I may just not run till race day. (Have I mentioned that I love running by the way and it is my happy place and I’m a much less pleasant person to be and to be around when I can’t do it?)

Related news: I’m running NYC in memory of one of my best friends who lost a years-long fight with cancer in 2013, and in honor of my dad who is in remission. To that end, I’m running via charity bib for the amazing Gilda’s Club, and if you would like to/are at all able to, please consider donating here. Time to go swim/bike…