Ancient Greek History Comes Back To Haunt Me
Damn you, Achilles. I thought I could forget about ancient Greek legend after 8th grade, but alas…
Last week, I was going for a morning run with my brother. We started running together a few weeks ago, neither of us with any prior running experience, bar “the mile” back in middle and high school. Things had been going well considering we never consulted anyone regarding how to run correctly (which is kind of stupid since we have cousins that work at Fleet Feet in Madison), but on this particular day I felt a sharp pain in my foot as we started jogging down the street. Rather than say anything, I shrugged it off and continued to run. 25 minutes later, and near the end of our “course”, we ascended a steep hill with a large incline, and suddenly the pain in my foot worsened ten fold.
After “cooling down” to walking pace, I began limping and walking soon became an arduous task in and of itself. Cut to yesterday when I finally went to the doctor (one week after injuring myself) and was diagnosed with achilles tendinitis, which Wikipedia claims is “common among athletes training under less than ideal conditions.” That sentiment makes me feel like some kind of backyard hero, a sort of underdog in the running world who fell from glory because of situational causes. Realistically though, this is the result of my own stupidity, and besides, Usain Bolt probably trained in an even more hostile environment than me, and look at what he has accomplished.
I can’t help but feel this is karmic retribution for me making fun of my boss, who recently jumped off of a balcony and broke his foot while intoxicated. There was simply too much comedic potential in the situation to restrain myself. So now, for the time being, we’re both limping. There’s an upside though; I can pretend I’m Brother Mark from A Better Tomorrow.
That’s me, out for vengence.
You’ve got me in stitches!