Goose egg!!

I woke up this morning with a really weird muscle cramp in my left calf. It feels like the muscle is twitching almost. I'm not sure if anyone has an experience with potassium deficiency but I used to get really intense muscle spasms (sometimes in the middle of the night-fabulous)  that felt just like this my calves. Maybe I should start taking a multivitamin again. I haven't had a potassium cramp in ages but I can't say that my nutrition has been amazing the last few months. I'm not exactly a banana-hound. I thought maybe I could work it out with some massage and a short, slow run but I thought better of it and decided to make today my rest day. 

I think I'll snuggle down into bed with my laptop and the new Antony & the Johnsons EP. 

1.07

I had this weird shin pain all day and I thought for sure it was going to splint-out on me during my short run. Strangely enough, it hurt at all times except for when I ran. I still iced it when I came home though. Paranoia and all.

1.06

Well hurray, my shins seem okay now. The biggest problem I had when I started running was terrible shin splits. I went to a running store, switched my shoes from my trusty New Balance to some stability Saucony Revolutions. It pretty much went away after that but I've been semi-terrified of an injury ever since I spent a month in bed after pulling a muscle training which ended up pinching my sciatic nerve. It is so, so, so unfun to go to doctor appointments where you get both electric shocks AND needles. I felt like maybe I shouldn't be paying to be tortured.

I took it slow, observed my rest day, and then just did my 15 minute walk, 1 minute run, 2 minute walk as per my training schedule. No jumping the gun. Tonight is my long run and I hope that the rest and active recovery has paid off. If not, I'm back to square one...

1.63

While I was shuffling along home tonight after my interval run, I wondered why my feet and legs were so sore and heavy. I wasn't in serious pain, but I felt sluggish on my cooldown walk. I wondered if I shouldn't have just walked yesterday when I was supposed to instead of running intervals. When I got to my door and ended my run on Nike+, not only had I just finished my second longest run but I also ran my fastest mile yet. It brings my horribly embarrassing mile time from 15'07" to 14'50". I am officially under 15 minutes! There are actually people in the world who are slower than me now! Mediocrity, I'm comin' for ya!

Also, my left shin hurts a little. I'm glad tomorrow is my rest day.

1.1

Despite being ridiculously tired this evening, I had a great run. Also, I realised that my Sunday 5min run/1min walk was a typo. SWEET.

I don't want to jinx myself but after my walk to run program is over, I'm going to start training for a 5k. I'm sort of paranoid about injuries though. When I was boxing I pulled a muscle in my lower back during a training session and it pinched my sciatic nerve which laid me up for nearly a year. Now I'm so worried about something like that happening again. I try to take things slow and read all I can about common beginners injuries and how to prevent them.

I was wondering as well if I should join some kind of running club. Part of me is amazingly embarrassed about my slowness but I was looking up some race times tonight and I realised that I'm pretty solidly middle-of-the-pack time-wise. I don't mind being mediocre in the least. I tried to scam someone into running with me but everyone I know lives too far away or refuses to run on principle.

How can I convince someone to be my running buddy without resorting to extortion, blackmail, or torture?