Does this make me a real runner?

I got my first running-related injury last week. Since it was raining outside Thursday evening, I decided to throw my excuses in the garbage and run on the treadmill at my apartment’s fitness center. I ran a solid three miles (awesome!) at a turtle’s 11-min/mile pace (boo). But, hey, a girl’s got to start somewhere! Well, it had been a while since I had run on a treadmill. I had really gotten used to running on the neighborhood roads and sidewalks. I had read that pavement and concrete were the kindest to your body, but it certainly seems to help pass the time away when you’ve got something new and fresh to look at each step of the way.

So, Thursday, I ran on the treadmill. The conditions were perfect. I had the music from my iPod in my ears (Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl really pumps me up!) and that classic episode of Friends on the TV (you know, the one wear Ross and Rachel take a “break”). I stretched afterwards by doing a few yoga moves in the fitness center. Luckily, no one else was there to witness my version of downward dog.

I went to bed that night, patted myself on the back for being a good exercising girl, and woke up the next morning unable to move. The calf muscles in both of my legs were rock-hard (and not in the good way). I attempted to hobble to my freezer to grab some frozen bags of peas and quickly made the smart decision that I would NOT be able to go to work and walk the 0.7 mile uphill trek from the Coliseum parking lot to the health center. Ugh. Pretty painful!

I iced my calves all morning and then soaked them in hot water. By mid-afternoon, they were feeling better and I think I was making a good, solid recovery. On Sunday it was really really cold outside, so I gave the treadmill another stab. This time I stretched for a much longer period of time, and I woke up this morning feeling like a million bucks.