Day 15

observatory and me, originally uploaded by Ryan Runs Europe.

40 Kilometers.
A rough run. It was raining off and on, so early on in the run I stopped to wrap all my clothes up in my space blanket so they wouldn't get wet. The result of this was 40 kilometers of space blanket crinkling sounds. I decided to not follow the highway, but instead take the country roads to Oudenaarde. This seemed like a good idea until I got onto the roads, and realized that there was no straight way, and that I had to stop every 400 meters or less to look at my map because the road split another 5 times.
I woke up in Antwerp a few days ago with a pain in my shin...and it has bothered me since then, but it really started to bother me on this run. I don't think the frequent stopping and starting helped much. After about 20 km of running, it started bothering me so much that I couldn't run. Despite the fact that it was drizzling rain, I decided to walk the rest of the way. Let me just say: walking sucks. It takes about 3 times as long to get anywhere, and when it is raining, that is not ideal. For the first time, I started feeling a bit bored, so I put in my headphones and listened to some of the hundred or so songs I put on my phone before I left.
I wasn't in a great mood, for obvious reasons...but I came across a cool observatory tower in the middle of nowhere and climbed up it. There isn't quite anything to cheer you up like a good view.
I got into Oudenaarde pretty late...around 4, and bought a bag of frozen peas to put on my shin. After a bit of icing, I went to my host Lieselot's place, another couchsurfer. We had some good dinner, and she gave me some icy/hot type stuff for my shin. I also took an anti-inflammatory.
I think I'm going to take it easy for the next couple of days and do some more boring walking in combination with easy running. Hopefully this thing passes over soon.