Painful Flashback

In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caeser, Caeser is warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March", prophesizing Caeser's assassination and the downfall of the Roman Empire.

That phrase could have also applied to me earlier this year.

On the Ides of March 2013, after a night on the town with my friends, as usual I was running late for my night train home. As I approached the train at full pelt, I suddenly felt what I thought was someone kicking an empty beer bottle into the back of my leg. I turned around to see that no one was there, and there was no bottle or other projectile at my feet. My next step would quickly, and painfully, reveal what had just happened. I felt a pain shoot up from my calf to my hamstring and collapsed on the ground, hardly able to move. Luckily, someone held the train doors for me and I winced my way onto the double-decker and slowly lowered myself down into a seat sandwiched between two drunks.  My walk home from the train station that night included an excruciating 45  (usually 20) minute walk (if you can call it "walking") home where I shuffled along, shrieking as every step sent a shock up my leg.

Deep down I know what happened, but I didn't want for it to be true, so I didn't look at my leg until the next morning.

I don't think it's supposed to be that color...

Yup, I had torn my calf muscle. Not during a super-endurance mountain challenge, not during some crazy crossfit exercise that had me running with barbells through fields. Nope. I had a few gin and tonics, a boogy on the d-floor to some inexplicable German hip-hop and was running for the train home. And POP goes the calf muscle. Being new to Switzerland (and completely broke), I still hadn't sorted out medical insurance, so I had to self-diagnose with help from the internet and friends who studied physical therapy at uni. Luckily, I brought my old crutches from the UK and had an ace-bandage in our First Aid kit. I was down and out for about 2 weeks unable to move or leave the house, and in a lot of pain. Like, A LOT of pain.

Since this episode, I have made it my daily routine to do a few minutes of yoga every morning. Nothing wild or too crazy, just 10-15 minutes doing the sun salutation - a bit of 'downward dog' is a miracle worker for the calves and hamstrings. No matter how lazy or tired I feel, I remember this image and the pain in my calf and I make sure to stretch those badboys really well. The last thing I need is to have another "pop" while out on a run in the middle of the woods where no one knows where I am!

Even without having been injured like this, I would highly recommend doing a bit of yoga in the morning - it only has to take a couple of minutes, and it really gets the blood circulating and wakes you up better than any coffee or, dare I say it, Red Bull, ever could - give it a shot!!

Sun salutation - image courtesy of www.innerpath.com