So I have a piece of advice for anyone out there: if you have an injury, first realize it. Second, let it heal. Third, you're done. Several weeks ago, my foot started hurting again. Initially I thought maybe I just needed to re-strengthen my foot and it would heal. About two weeks later, it got worse and I had swelling that you could see, not just feel. I started taking it easy, again. I called my doctor to see if we should have some imaging done and was told to wrap it and take pain meds through the weekend. Check back in after the weekend. I knew that wasn't going to work so I ran on my foot. The doctor didn't tell me not to. I ended up back in the doctor's office where I saw the nurse practitioner. She told me she thought I was probably mis-diagnosed back in December when I had my initial x-ray, probably had a stress fracture, and she ordered another one. Guess what? No stress fracture. I was told to wrap my foot and stablize it and the end. The soft tissue swelling was visible on the x-ray. So now I have been a week and a half with my foot in an ugly blue "shoe" and it's summer. The good news is that I really do think it is healing. It used to be that when I would stand up, particularly when I would stand up and walk after sitting for a while, my foot would hurt for the first few steps. With the shoe on, I can walk without my foot hurting. I suspect that even when my foot finally does heal, I'll always have a little tenderness or twinging pain. It's just been inflammed for so long I don't think it will ever be normal again.
So, last summer and fall when I was training for the St. George Marathon, I think my foot hurt. I don't know when when it started. I was running a lot. You can't run like I was running and not spend a lot of time without some discomfort. It wasn't until after the marathon that I realized I had tendonitis. When I did, I slowed down. When it didn't heal, I slowed down even more. My real problem was I don't know when I first had the injury. I wasn't paying attention. It could have only been days but it's more likely it was weeks or months. I just don't know and I wish I could go back. If you catch it right away and take time off, tendinitis heals in a few weeks, usually with no medical intervention. I have no idea how long I'll be down this time. I'm going crazy. Today I should be running 5 miles with a 7 miler tomorrow. My plan is to do Napa Valley Ragnar. I just don't know how it's going to turn out.
Thanks for checking in with me. Hopefully I'll be back out there soon. Stay with your goals and let me know if you have any questions.
