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Friday, April 29, 2011

Coming to Terms With My Limitations

I've injured my Achilles tendons on both feet.

Now, from what I can tell, from my brief perusal of the internet, this isn't a huge deal. It's actually more uncomfortable than it is painful. Most of all, it's worrisome. I have a fear, which I like to tell myself is irrational, that someday my Achilles tendon will rupture and snap back into my leg. Don't ask me where this comes from; I don't know anyone this has happened to and I've never had any reason to think that it would happen to me.

Now that I feel this discomfort with every step, it's what I dwell on almost all day.

When I first started planning this trip, I counted on my stubbornness to get me through. I was confident that difficulty or misery wouldn't be enough to make me quit. I said to myself, "Only running out of money or an injury could send me off the Trail permanently."

Of course, being healthy, lucky, and never seriously involved in athletics mean that I have never really been injured. I've never had a broken bone. I've never had surgery. I've never had a hospital stay. So when I thought of an injury that could send me off the trail, I was thinking of a freak accident like falling off a mountain and breaking a leg.

Definitely nothing so mundane as a repetitive stress injury.

Thanks to the the time-honored tradition of self-diagnosis and the internet, I know that what I need to do to treat this is only the three least satisfying treatments ever: Rest, pain medication, and stretching. I found myself thinking, "Isn't there a magic pill or a brace that will fix this? I want to be better NOW."

I'm going to give it my best shot with the stretching, but unfortunately, rest isn't much of an option right now. We're heading into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today, and park regulations require that we stay only in shelters. No camping allowed. This means that we will have to hike ten to fifteen miles a day for the next week. Not exactly what the WebMD ordered.

We're just going to have to go ahead and see what happens. Hopefully stretching will clear it up. We can try taking more frequent breaks or going at a slower pace to try to provide some relief. In three weeks, we'll be in Northern Virginia for my mom's wedding, so this will give us a good long break and the time to visit a doctor, if it comes to that. I just have to make it that far.

I'm going to keep telling myself that there's no way this could be the stumbling block to reaching my goal. Denial can be a good thing, right?

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