Seriously?

So my minor ouchie from last Saturday? NOT so minor. I am still hurting.  In fact, the pain is spreading. It's not worse by any means, but definitely spreading.  It started in my ankle. Then it moved to my calf. Migrated to the back of my knee (today I noticed a definitely swollen lump behind my knee). The height of the pain was Friday am - I went to sit down and go through some paperwork, leaned back and it felt like my whole quad flipped itself over, from my knee up to my hip. It was HORRENDOUS. Since then, my quad, the outside of my knee and my calf have been in pain.

Our camp site

I went to see my doctor (family medicine) on Friday, thinking he could help me if I did something serious. He gave me some muscle strengthening exercises and told me it should feel better in 3-4 days. Seriously? I'm fairly certain, as a runner, I don't need to strengthen my quads. And if it would heal in 3-4 days, why does it still hurt 8 days after I injured it???

So I may have to suck it up an go see an orthopedic doctor or a sports med doc.  I just know I can't go on like this. I'm so depressed when I can't work out! For me, this translates into eating ONE OF  EVERYTHING (sometimes 2-3 of everything)!

It doesn't hurt enough that I can't walk. My family went camping this weekend and we toured Meramec Caverns. It was a 1 1/4 mile walk through Missouri's largest public cavern. It was awesome to see what nature has done under there!  There were moments (52 steps up to the "wine room" formations!) that hurt but by and large it was an awesome adventure!  I did walk 13101 steps yesterday! However, for as much as I ate - that probably didn't offset much!

I've been trying to evaluate why I've felt so "blue" the last week - I really do think it's because I haven't been working out! It's been awhile since I haven't done *anything* as far as working out for more than a week at a time.

Camping staple...

Date night dinner... 

And of course, someone who's feeling this way (or ME when *I* feel this way) only wants comfort food. I haven't been motivated to cook anything or go anything good for myself.

Birthday treats at work... 

This MUST end.  I am going in the wrong direction. I was feeling great, FINALLY finding a routine that was working for me - and now this injury has set me back again!  Is this just what getting healthy entails?! Two steps forward and one step backward??

This week, I made a deal with a friend (Yes, Stacy, I'm putting this in writing!) that starting Monday we were going to do what we need to do to get healthy. Fixing our eating, start working out again, whatever that may be. For me, this week needs to involve a clean meal plan, lots and lots of water and hopefully some swimming to get myself at least MOVING.