Ooops, I Did It Again!

Well, I may have injured myself.

I'm thinking it's an overuse injury. For a few months, since I've been back into running, I have had a nagging knot in my right calf near my shin. Then it started to spread to the inner part of the calf. When I do cross-training activities like Ripped in 30, or walking on the treadmill at an incline, I feel it. Not bad enough to make me stop, but enough to notice and keep me from pushing harder.

So about a month ago, in addition to this weird calf knot and pain, my right knee also started getting stiff, and then one night I woke up and couldn't bend it at all for a few minutes. Felt like something was going to pop if I did, so I slowly tried to bend it. Eventually it did, but it was uncomfortable for a minute. It didn't bother me the next day. However, since then I have had a nagging pressure/pain in the back of my knee.

Now, I must tell you that I have a HUGE family history of arthritis and bursitis, but I have never been diagnosed. I've always had those stiff, popping and creaky joints in my hips and knees. So knee pain is not uncommon for me. But this is different. It feels like a tissue problem, not a joint problem, I think.

Sometimes it just randomly starts hurting. But tonight it hurt from the beginning of my run and didn't go away once I warmed up. I had to stop at 1.26 miles of a 2 mile run. I've iced it. It still hurts. I'm going to take an anti-inflammitory that I was prescribed for shin splints and call it a night.

We'll see how it feels tomorrow. The thing that really sucks is that other than this pain, I felt like I could have ran forever. It was one of those runs that are few and far between lately, where I have energy, my breathing is easy and not forced, and I'm enjoying every song on my iPod. What a bummer...second training for a half marathon, second injury. Ooops, I did it again...

Have you ever had problems like this? Know what it might be or what I should do?