Probably by now, I really should be wrapped up in the thickest bubble wrap that a human can be wrapped in. My body certainly has been breaking down more and more this year. Lots of aches and pains of course, but between the appendix surgery and this foot issue, I just haven’t run as much this year as in years prior. The other day time hop popped up and 2 years at this time I was at 800 miles. This year? Sitting at 468.3 miles. Big difference.

Obviously the appendectomy took me down for a good bit, but coming back from that, I pretty quickly started having this crazy foot pain. It honestly started the weekend of my NH/MA double in May. I noticed after the first race in NH that my foot was a little sore but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until after the second race on Sunday that I realized it was more than just a little sore. I had a hard time even just walking. I tried to pull back on running a bit, but when I was barely running at all, that was tough. Finally after I really began losing sleep over the pain, I decided to go see my podiatrist.

At our first visit, he immediately diagnosed me with a tear in my plantar fascia. This was basically done with just an exam and from me pointing out my pain, etc. He wanted me to get into a boot right away. As much as I wanted this pain to go away, I had a few states lined up and the first being 2 days after I saw him. To just be frank, I wasn’t going to lose hundreds of dollars for some foot pain. So, I ran that half and went into the boot afterwards for about 2 weeks. Wearing a boot sucks. Especially in the summer because it’s just so hot. On top of that, walking in the boot as much as I was was really throwing off the rest of my right leg.

After those few weeks in the boot I was still the same amount of pain. While I didn’t think this would solve the problem overnight, I would have assumed that with less use, the pain would have subsided. Finally after just being so frustrated, at the end of June I made an appointment with the sports medicine doctor. This is probably what I should have done from the beginning, but can’t change that now. He immediately wanted me out of the boot (who am I to argue?!) and said I did not have a torn fascia but a bad case of tendonitis in my foot. He prescribed some at home exercises and therapy if I felt the need and gave me a script for an MRI if things got worse.

I did the at home exercises and was trying to be more conscious about rolling so that I stay loose all over and within 3-4 weeks I was having less and less pain. In fact, even during my runs, I could easily get through about 8-10 miles pain free. I had very little pain at the Freakin’ Fast Half and a little more moderate pain during the Spearfish half. Nothing like what it felt like at the end of May and beginning of June. I was feeling pretty good about things. I still was only running about 15-18 miles a week, which is nothing for me, but those miles were pretty good.

Then, just about 2 weeks ago, during the last quarter mile of a 3 mile run I had immediate pain strike me. It was like the pain I was having at the beginning. I consulted with my doctor and we thought it was a good idea to go ahead and get the MRI.

Well, the good news from the MRI is that nothing was broken or torn. There is some fluid around the one tendon that runs along the bottom of my foot. The doctor thought at this time a cortisone shot would be the best course of action. There is another plasma shot that he recommends, but it’s never covered by insurance. I’ll take my chances on the cortisone shot. I know they only last so long. Hopefully in that time, my foot can get itself together and just heal properly. I am going in for the shot today and will be booted for 2 days and no activity until the following Monday. Not ideal with this intense activity, rest, intense activity, rest cycle, but it seems to be the story of my life right now. Hopefully this cortisone shot is just what the foot needs and I start to see some relief pretty soon.