I Will Not Run 18 Miles Tomorrow, I Will Not Run 18 Miles Tomorrow....

Not what you'd expect to see as the title of a blog post by someone who's training for (and hoping to PR at) a marathon in 8 weeks.

But my one-and-a-half-year streak of running injury free has come to an end. It was a good streak, and I'm really hoping that this is just a blip - a minor speed bump, if you will - and that I'll start another injury-free streak very soon.

It started after last weekend's long run. A slight achiness in my right foot. I didn't think too much of it - just figured it was some normal post-16-mile soreness.

I had some pain in the top of my foot, and some shin splint sensation as well, which I attributed to having that shoe tied too tightly at the beginning of my long run. In addition to that, the arch of my foot was aching.

I felt it a little bit when I started my Tuesday track workout, but it went away quickly, and again, I thought it was just normal aches and pains. The workout went fine, and I thought I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

Then that night, and the following day, it was downright painful. The top of my foot was feeling much better - I am pretty certain that pain was a direct result of too-tight shoelaces, and it's completely gone now - but the arch was not happy at all.

At first I didn't even consider plantar fasciitis, since I had always heard of that described as excrutiating heel pain. This was uncomfortable, but not excrutiating, and not in my heel.

But the more I read, the more I realized that it probably was, in fact, PF, about which I've heard so many horror stories I've lost count. Stories about not being able to run for months and months; stories about PF being one of the most stubborn, hard to overcome running injuries out there. Sigh.

But as I continued reading, I found some other versions of the story. Versions in which people realized there was a problem right away, and did NOT try to run through it, and were able to get themselves rehabbed relatively quickly, and were not sidelined for ridiculous amounts of time.

I'm sincerely hoping that I will be one of the latter stories. My pain is mild, at best, right now. My foot was sore when I first woke up this morning, but since then I've hardly noticed even a hint of discomfort.

And I've done my research, so I know what I need to do - ice, massage, stretch, take ibuprofen, don't go barefoot, lay face down with my feet hanging off the edge of the bed while I sleep - and I'm doing it all.

What's just as important, though, is what I'm NOT doing. I'm not running.

I skipped my planned 10-mile tempo run on Thursday. And as much as I hate to do it, I'm skipping the 18-miler that's on the schedule for tomorrow.

I know that I could go out and run 18 miles, and probably wouldn't feel any pain while running, but I would be doing some serious damage to my foot, and that's not what I want to do right now. I keep reminding myself that a few missed training runs will not destroy all the progress I've made so far. A training plan is just that - a plan - and sometimes plans have to be altered.

I am holding out hope that I will still be able to run Gansett, and that all I need at this point is to take a week or two off, give this foot some TLC, and then get back out there and finish up my last few weeks of training.

I don't know for certain that that will be the case, and only time will tell. I'm hoping to get in to see my podiatrist next week to get some more information from him, too. But I'm hopeful.

What I'm keeping in mind, though, as I think about how badly I want to get in that long run tomorrow, is that as much as I want to go run 18 miles this weekend (yes, I'm crazy like that), I'd much rather skip this one run than end up having to skip countless other runs a few weeks or months from now.

My body is sending me a very, very clear message, and I am listening.

Comments

[Laura]

Oh, no!!! Good for you for listening to your body, that is so hard to do. I'm starting to wonder if I'll make it to my full this spring, too... I'm feeling a little ache in my shin and had shin stress this summer, so I'm nervous about it... we'll see how I feel after this weekend! Hope you can rest it off and get back on track with your training!

[Michelle]

Hope no real injuries flare up for you. A week or two off I can handle - I'm just trying to prevent a months-long layoff. Here's hoping we both get to our starting lines healthy!!!

[Wes]

hope its not serious, but good call resting it now and see where you stand!