A One-Month Challenge: Run, Lift, Sleep, Eat, Teach, Mother, repeat....

Credit: www.goneforarun.com Facebook page

The PF Report and Long Runs

I've said it before; I don't know who I am when I'm not running. And yet I haven't been running. Because PF. And when I saw this image pop up on yesterday's Facebook feed, it spoke to me (even if ironically). 

Long runs matter. For me, long runs are therapy. Personal time. Think time. Work it out time. Time I've needed very much in the last two weeks. And had my left heel not hurt so stinking much, to mitigate the stress of the last two weeks at work, I would have needed fifty miles on the road. 

Coffee matters. No further explanation needed there.

So I did go long today. Six miles long. That's as long as I felt comfortable pushing my heel. They were six hard-fought miles, though. I'm not sure that I got any closer to accepting the things I cannot change, but I got a little closer to accepting that the conversations I have in my head while running long might be the best I can do with some of that work stress for now. 

A One-Month Personal Wellness Challenge

The injury has set me back quite a bit mentally in other ways. I wasn't prepared to run the 1/2 marathon this weekend that I usually run in Indianapolis with my best friend, so I didn't go. I've justified it by saying that I'm resting from the injury, but I also know I'm not doing enough to heal the heel; I need to be consistent in icing, taking anti-inflammatories, stretching, wearing a Strassborg sock to bed, and trying out this new essential oil that's been recommended by a friend. 

But I always do better when I've got a target, so I'm taking on a one-month personal wellness challenge. I chose a month because I've got one month until my Wellness Screening at school. Every year we get a weigh in with a BMI and a blood test and a flu shot and a whole host of other pieces of data about our health. Every year I tell myself I'll do something different. But a year seems like a bit too big of a bite (and it clearly is since I've only got a month left until this year's screening.) 

So one month. Targets: Run, bike, or lift every day. Record and manage nutrition for all 30 days. Consistently treat the PF.  

We'll see what a difference a month can make. Anyone else interested? 

AND... Plantar Fasciitis... Tips and tricks?

Oh, so pretty--From Wikipedia

I haven't been walking well for, oh, about 8 months now. My feet hurt. My left foot, in particular, hurts a lot. Right by the heel. Like in this really remote spot by the heel on the underside of my foot. See that "Most Frequent Area of Pain" spot in the super helpful picture from Wikipedia above? Yeah, that's the spot.

It's been going on for a while. I remember being at Disney for the Dopey Challenge and thinking I couldn't walk barefoot on the hotel room floor because my heels hurt so badly (I usually say that to my husband, "My HEEL hurts...", not "my foot.") And post-Dopey, it definitely didn't go away. It's just gotten worse, really. When I found myself not wanting to put on my shoes for work (I try to look professionally presentable and often wear flats to work) and shopping online for Danskos and trying to come up with ways to justify wearing my Oofos  to work. (Oofos don't feel right at work; they've asked us not to wear Crocs, and they are made of the same material.)

On a positive note, I finally have my red shoes. I'm sure that my early childhood obsession with the Wizard of Oz has led to a lifelong fascination with red shoes. I have a pair of red boots, but I've never had a pair of red shoes. And now I have a pair. I also have a pair of really cool brown Danskos. And an older paid of black Danskos. And all those are great (although somewhat limiting if you are a person who cares about what your feet look like with dresses and skirts). 

So I haven't been walking well for about 8 months. And finally, on Thursday at one of my high school's soccer games, I walked (limped) up to a trainer friend and asked her to look at my feet. She thought something might be broken and recommended I go see a doctor to get it checked. (My hubby did a little bit of the "I told you so" thing, but he was relatively restrained). 

I figured that I'd have to go to the school's Clinic, they'd have to refer me to someone else, and then I'd have to wait to get in. I called the school's Clinic, and they told me that they'd just have to refer me to someone else anyway, so I might as well go somewhere where they could do x-rays. (It was rather efficient of them, and I appreciated it. I often feel like medical stuff is a lot of hurry up and wait.) 

And the cool thing? I didn't have to wait. There is an actual walk-in orthopedic clinic in South Bend. I had no idea such a thing existed until I went online and realized that I could go yesterday afternoon between noon and eight and be seen right away. Brilliant. 

I went. They x-rayed. It's not broken. It's PF. A friend, though, told me that given the choice between the two, he'd take a broken foot any day of the week. It took him two years to get over PF; a broken foot can be out of a cast in six weeks. The doctor sounded more optimistic than that. She gave me some stretches. Told me to take on the ole frozen water bottle/lacrosse ball foot rolling routine. Recommended I take an anti-inflammatory 24 hours a day for a while. And even gave me a physical therapy referral. (All in a walk-in clinic. It was amazing.) Also, my friend told me to try this essential oil because it worked for him. I ordered it this morning.

I'm pretty sure that if you told me that standing on my head, blindfolded, while mosquitos sting the bottoms of my feet would make me feel better, I would try it. So I'm all in on all the things here.

Oddly, I forgot to ask the doctor if I can run. I just said to a friend this week, "I don't know who I am when I'm not running." And I've been running through the pain (It doesn't actually hurt all that much when I'm running. It hurts when I stop running.). Going to have to do some research on this one. I feel like my high pain tolerance might actually be helpful here? 

For now, PF on, friends.