HI.  I’m Mary and I am an addict.

I had a thought this morning as I was running my 1 mile for the RW Running Streak Challenge.  http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/runners-world-summer-run-streak-2013

I’m off drugs!  Yay!  I don’t know how many days, weeks or months it’s been, but I can’t remember the last time I popped a pill.  They used to be my crutch.  My savior.  My hope.  I was hooked and didn’t even know it.  They numbed the pain.  They kept the pain from starting in the first place.  They kept me going.

I’m talking about Aleve, of course!  What did you think?

I used to take an Aleve every day.  I’d take one if I was running, if I had run and forgot to take one beforehand or if I thought my run from yesterday was still gonna hurt.

Yes.  I realize this behavior was not healthy but honestly, I figured what could one little pill a day really harm.

So I was running (err, um, limping) along this morning thinking “Wow, my knee is kind of hurting.”  Then I tried to decide if I am in more pain NOW or if I was in more pain before – when I was running regularly.  The jury is still out on that one.  It’s complicated.  Some of my pain was from falling and hurting my knee then recovery from surgery and some of my pain was from running a lot.  But the real difference is that I took all of that Aleve so I don’t really know how much my knees would have hurt. 

I think my pain now is just temporary while my body really gets used to the daily grind.  It’s been months, now but I took months off from running so I’m guessing it’ll take a bit. 

Before I go further, let me assure you that my ‘pain’ in my knee was short lived this morning.  It was kind of stiff and hurt for about a quarter of a mile and then I was fine.

I still think about popping an Aleve sometimes but I feel like I’m better off just feeling the pain so I know what’s really going on with my body. 

Alright – so maybe “I am an addict” is a little ‘dramastic’… 

That’s my randomness for today!  Have a good one 🙂