So over the past month I’ve been getting pains in my shins, nothing to bad, just slightly sharp stabby pains. I didn’t really think much of them. I’d stretch them out as much as I could and just pushed through the discomfort. Last week I noticed they were getting a smidgen worse, again, I just pushed through them.

But after practice on Monday…  it was ON! My shins dealt me some serious pain! The kind where it shoots up into your knees and sometimes extends up into your hips. The kind where you can barely walk, let a lone skate, because suddenly it feels like your legs are giving out beneath you.  Tuesday morning I almost fell out of bed, my shins were HATING me.  I took it easy that day and hoped the rest would repair them enough for practice on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning came around and it even worse than the day before. Which is typical with me and sore muscles. So I thought, like any other muscle soreness, I could go to practice, stretch and warm up the muscles and life would be grand. Um, NO! Not the case AT ALL. By the time I was done with warm ups and after we did ladders, I was done. I could barely stand, I definitely couldn’t skate. I had to sit out, and rub myself the rest of practice.

The girls were wonderful showing me different stretches and giving advice on icing, elevating and massaging my shins. Advil and ace bandages were recommended too. I took their advice and iced the shit out of my legs last night, and massaged icy hot on them after. I could actually walk this morning like a normal human with an occasional shooting pain here and there. My brain is telling me to go to practice tonight, but my body is crying NO!

This whole derby thing has really taught me a lot about my body, and I know I will learn a lot more.   I need to learn when to stop pushing and heal, but it’s so hard. My mind is so focused and my will to succeed and improve is so strong… it’s difficult to deal with these temporary limitations, and accept I have to be patient with my body… it’s got a long way to go.

That is all!