Six weeks ago, I ran the Bolder Boulder 10K race. About a week before the race, I started having some foot pain. Nothing too major. Just some pain in the ball of my foot. I was extra careful about stretching after every workout and when I got out of bed every morning to alleviate it. At the actual event, it started to bother me much more than usual and really slowed me down during the race. Again, I made sure to stretch and didn't worry too much about it.
After the Bolder Boulder, I decided to maintain the mileage I was running and do shorter runs, the elliptical and my bike. It wasn't long before I couldn't get through a run without some serious pain and was even paying for workouts on the elliptical. I was no longer able to walk around the house without wearing shoes and could not wear any shoes but running shoes. I 'paid' for days after wearing sandals, flip flops or dress shoes. Nothing a few Tylenol didn't help!
My husband and son were out of town for a week leaving me solo with our daughter so I couldn't run at all. It was driving me nuts so at the first opportunity I had (after about six days off), I went for a three mile run. It was one of those go-halfway-then-turn-around-and-come-back type of routes. Needless to say, I was honestly wondering if I was going to make it back at all, let alone jogging. At this point, it was obvious that I could no longer ignore my foot. I wasn't imagining this problem, there was really something wrong.
I will take the kids to the doctor at the first sign of a problem but I have a stupid fear of appearing like a hypochondriac so I pretty much refuse to go to the doctor unless I'm dying. Unfortunately, this means that I get to feel REALLY stupid when the doctor asks, "How long have you been having this problem?" and I meekly squeak out: "At least a month? I'm not really sure".
Three x-rays later: no running, no elliptical and even limited walking. Best of all, I am supposed to be spending 2-3 weeks sitting with my foot up, taking Ibuprofen and getting custom made orthotics for my shoe ($$!). Can I tell you that I cannot even sit through a feature length movie? Seriously. This girl cannot sit still even when I want to. The short story is that I probably have an over-use injury that MIGHT get better with time and could take more than a year to fully heal. If it's not better after the three weeks of being up, my doctor will investigate the possibility of a stress fracture. Isn't that magical?
The moral of this story is: If I had listened to my body when it first started talking to me, it might not have progressed to the point where it had to SCREAM in agony to finally get my attention. I might have been able to dial back my mileage for awhile rather than coming to a screeching halt and ending up riding the couch. Do as I say and listen to your body when it starts talking. Do as I did and you'll end up a stubborn ass just like me. My new profile picture:
Here is a timely article I received today from Sharecare about common running injuries and their treatment. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned runner, please look through this article and don't be a "stubborn ass" if any of these aches and pains seem all too familiar.
