Curse you, Achilles!

So the myth goes that Achilles was dipped in a water as a baby that made him invincible, except for the heel where he was held to be dipped in. It would have been such an easy thing to do to tie a rope to the little guy and get him in there all the way, making him totally invincible. Then also, maybe runners wouldn't have so much trouble with the achilles tendon.

A little bit of research reveals some interesting things about the achilles tendon:

• It is the largest tendon in the body.
• In spite of that, it doesn't get much water.
• An injury here technically isn't tendonitis, since the suffix -itis implies a swelling of the tendon--the achilles tendon doesn't swell. It's called tendinopathy.
• Vikings believed that it was the pleasure center of fertility and would boil the tendons of their honored dead to make what was called "baby broth" which was given to women of childbearing age without telling of them of the stock ingredient. They believed this produced babies that were happy about killing.

I'm chalking this up as my first serious running injury, and one that I'm milking for all it's worth. Will be spending the rest of the week in the pool or on a bike.