Wow....I won't take anything I love doing for granted.
Interesting. This same problem has sidelined me for most of the last two years. I went to a bunch of doctors and was very close to surgery when I backed out less than 24 hours before, which in hindsight was a great move on my part.
None of the doctors could fix it, they could only make it manageable for a couple of weeks, and then the problem would come back. I couldn't run more than 2 miles at any pace during this time without the numbness and hardness in my calves coming back.
I finally figured out myself how to handle it, and since I did, I've been steadily getting back into shape over the last 2-3 months. It took a lot of trial and error, and some modifications to my old routine, but I am confident I know how to keep it away for good. There are a few guys out there with laser equipment that dissolves old scar tissue deep under the surface; I saw one of them several times until the scar tissue was reduced to nothing. I had mostly scar tissue at one point, now I have little or none.
And I am running my first real race in two years tomorrow morning. While I'm sure the time will be less than impressive, I am very happy to be out there competing. So Erica (or anyone else with compartment syndrome), if you are out there I'm happy to tell you what worked for me.
I noticed that this article is dated Feb. 2003. Does anyone know the status of Erica's injury now? It's been almost three years and I most certainly wish her the best.
Rob M.
I was fortunate to see Erica win NCAA's in 1999. I cannot imagine what it would be like to suffer an injury of that sort. Her story puts things into perspective in that many of us take things for granted.
Believe the problem started when she was forced to change from heel striker to toe-runner?
That hurt just to read. It was like reading an interview between an unwitting sadist and a talking corpse.
Those of us who remember Erica from high school will never forget the sight of her tearing up Derryfield Park, 400 meters in front of the field but busting her ass for the simple sake of the race, spittle and snot flying every which way. A sweet kid then and surely a sweet - if understandably frustrated - young woman now. Hopefully she's at peace.
its only running, she doesn't have a terminal disease
wtf wrote:
its only running, she doesn't have a terminal disease
True. Thanks for reminding me of the bright side.
The tone of the interview wasn't just glum, it was fune-freakin'-real. I was just waiting for Gambaccini to quit with the facade of optmistc questions and rattle off a "Jesus, that really f***in' sucks! Sorry you're hating life."
Well, I don't think any of the "Keeping Track Of..." interviews at fast-women or mensracing were likely to be cheery. They were all with former young stars who hadn't been heard from in awhile, and the reasons for their absences weren't likely to be because they were out finding a cure of cancer or something.