10-27 tHAT hURT!!!

I have hurt myself pretty bad in my lifetime but there is definitely one time that I will never forget. I think it was ninth grade and I was running track. I thought I was doing well and that I had a decent chance of winning some races that season. The first couple of weeks went by without any incident. I was actually winning some of my heats. It was only after about the fourth or fifth week that I noticed something was wrong. I was working out and doing my warm up run and I felt my calf suddenly tighten. It felt like my calf had turned to stone. I thought it was a cramp so I iced it and it seemed to go away. I didn’t even give it a second thought until it kept happening. Every time I would go to run even for the shortest period of time, I would get a tightening in my leg that would just about bring me to my knees. I talked to Mr. Kennedy about it and he said that it might just be a severe case of shin splints. He said if I took it easy and iced it a lot, it would get better. It seemed as though that was working so I decided to go all out on my last race of the season. I was running the 3000 meter (2 mile) race and I was doing really well. I was in third the entire time until the last couple of laps. I knew the race was almost over and I wanted to win because it was the last race of the season. I started to run faster and that’s when it happened. I actually don’t remember falling and hitting my head on the track but people told me that’s what I did. I found out later that my Achilles tendon was torn in my left leg.