1st Injury of the year on 12/23!

On Saturday I did the Lake Natoma Loop, a 12 mile run around Lake Natoma, starting from the Fish Hatchery and looping all the way around and back. It is not too strenuous as far as 12 milers go, rolling most the way, with a few short hills. Running with Rick Santos, it was bound to be challenging as his best marathon time is about 1 hour and 20 minutes quicker than mine. Luckily he did a monster hill work out the previous day which left him happy to chug along at my barely sub 10 minute pace. Since we are both aspiring to do our first ultra at The Way Too Cool 50K, we were trying to just get some hours on our feet. Mission accomplished. The weather was pretty chilly, the car thermometer read 38 degrees in the parking lot of the hatchery while I was waiting for Rick, great weather for a Mid-Westerner, but a bit chilly for this California boy. After a relatively uneventful first 8 miles, the muscle (tendon?) just inside and at the base of my right calf got "that" feeling. The one where you feel like it's about to blow if you don't ease up right then and there. Luckily, I was able to stop before it fully tore (blew?). It was kind of like that feeling where you feel a night cramp coming on and are able to stop it before it fully seizes. Up to this point, we were running on the dirt trail adjacent to the paved bike trail as much as we could. Thinking that the varying terrain may have caused the discomfort, we went back to the paved trail where I was able to hobble back the last 3 1/2 miles. Fortunately it never got worse and though it was tender the rest of the day and yesterday, I will attempt a slow easy run today to test it. Seeing as how it is Christmas Eve and I asked for a running GPS for Christmas, it would be similar to O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi. if I were unable to use it. I'll keep up my good thoughts and hope for the best.