Injury

On July 4^th I ran a 10-mile road race after having spent the better part of June ramping up my trail running mileage in anticipation of a half marathon trail race on the subsequent July 12^th. The 10 miler was flat and fast, with my pace a respectable 6:40. At the end of the race, I felt a “twinge” deep in my groin (left side) – nothing too worrying, but unusual. We’ve all experienced various pulls and strains that we simply exercised through, so I chalked this up to a pull of some kind – perhaps an adductor (or just “groin”) strain of some sort. It wasn’t painful as much as “strange,” which I realize doesn’t describe it very well.

I continued to run over the next week – nothing too strenuous, as I was preparing for the trail half. Still, I noticed the strange pull remained present, and it had progressed to a slight (and I mean very slight) soreness.  At this point, stupid runner syndrome overruled common sense, and I found myself standing at the start line on July 12.

By the 6^th mile of up-and-down trail running, my deep groin was in pain – sharp and deep. I could still run, but the pain was constant. By mile 10, I felt as if someone was stabbing a knife deep inside my groin. I literally had to hobble the remaining 3 miles on the single track to get to the finish. Believe me, I would have dropped out, but I was in the middle of the woods, with no way of simply quitting. Pathetically, the mosquitoes had a field day on me, with my zombie-like gait to just get out of the woods.

At the finish line, I knew I was in trouble – the pain was very sharp with each step, and I simply collapsed into my car – whereupon the pain began to subside rather quickly.  After driving home for a half hour, I tried to get out of the car and was met with the knife-stabbing pain.  That evening, my inner groin throbbed as I lay in bed, though not really all that badly.