Thank you Suzi. You said just the right thing. In fact, there are tears running down my cheeks as I type this.

Bonny, I'd say, do what's best for the long term care of YOU. It's great to have these challenges, and to do the fund raising and what not. But if that means having a serious arthritic ankle for the rest of your life, is it worth it? If the prevailing sentiment is, heal yourself. Then give your body time to heal.

caveat. I did learn that the phrase "no pain, no gain" often came to mean, "you've gained life long pain", so I err on the side of caution.

Good luck with your decision! And a dash of ankle~ma to boot!

So it's a mysterious, chronic injury.

It is. Is seems that I damaged a ligament or something at the bottom of my hamstring and that the swelling is just gravity drawing the fluid down.

The very freaky thing is that I have no pain, no bruising, no infection. Just the swelling...and not all that much of that. It swells enough that my shoe feels tighter, but that's all.

I've resisted seeing a medical doctor because my suspicion is that they'll take xrays say, yup, it's not broken and tell me to do exactly what I have been doing. rest, ice, compress, elevate.

if it's soft tissue damage, an MRI might be the best bet. Either way, you need the body to heal.

I've never actually failed at a major goal like this.

I don't think that you've failed if you want to go forward but are physically unable to. You can't fail if you're not allowed to do it.

I've resisted seeing a medical doctor because my suspicion is that they'll take xrays say, yup, it's not broken and tell me to do exactly what I have been doing. rest, ice, compress, elevate

Before you make any decision you should see a doctor!

When is the race anyway?

28 October. 5 weeks away.

Hippo Birdies smonster!

health~ma for all buffistas and the ones we love. Let's be careful out there!

I take huge pride in my sheer strength of will, but am I being stupid by trying to finish this event...just because I can?

You've gathered contributions, which I think of as the really hard part. You've trained for the event, which means you worked hard improving fitness for a long time. Because I am stubborn and probably on the far edge of the sanity spectrum, I've done a lot of things when I was in a lot of pain. This has rarely turned out well.

There's also no shame in starting and not finishing, so you could try knowing you might have to drop out.

eta: You really should see a doctor. A doctor can give you an idea about whether continued use could cause damage. Also, it sounds like the kind of thing that might yield to the magic of a cortisone shot.