"i am going to do something...and its going to hurt a lot"

That is how the conversation started with my massage therapist this morning :) A warning, and fair warning indeed that she was going to do something to my shins, and yes, it was going to hurt a lot. So I braced myself for the worst, and focused on breathing as she pressed with all her might down the sides of my shins. I asked between breaths, "uh what exactly are you doing?" to which I got another response I perhaps should never have wanted to hear. "I am pulling your muscle off your bone" Hmmmm I thought, OK just ignore that, pretend you never heard it, keep working on breathing through the pain :)

She did warn me it was going to hurt a lot, but that it would drastically improve my shin splints. So I sucked it up and let her do it, and it wasn't that bad. She did comment on how awful my shin splints were, and how she could feel them as she rubbed. I smiled a little to myself with vain satisfaction because many times when I tell people I have shin splints they kinda do that "oh yeah mmhmm" thing as if really thinking "No, you don't you just suck at running" Hahaha but now it was confirmed, and being fixed. She also commented on how wonderful my leg muscles are...hahaha I guess only someone in her profession would dish out compliments like that :)

I fell in love with my massage therapist today, it was my first time seeing her and most definitely will not be my last. It was wonderful and relaxing and I eagerly await my next appointment!

My knee has been hurting the last few days which has been very discouraging for me. Runners are infamous for knee problems and I don't want it to become something serious that will affect my training schedule. She didn't think it was anything to serious at this point, said it could very well just be my body adjusting to the training, and she booked me in to see my Chiropractor on Tuesday, so we will see what he says.

But I ran this morning, pre-massage, and it was great...I ran 22:36 without stopping, not once, even drank my water as I ran...our Southern Ontario weather is getting hotter and more humid so I have discovered water is a must even on my short runs. I am praying my knee gets better and that if I need to rest a day or two I wont get discouraged in my training!

Now on to a wonderful post-massage Epsom salt bath! I could get used to these training benefits :)