Foot Follies

Oh, the foot. Not so good for those of you who are wondering. I did what Melissa said and didn't run after my torture massage. Instead I biked with the group on Wednesday after work (so fun!). I'm very glad my foot doesn't hurt when I bike. On Thursday after work, Marty met me at Umstead. I was very hopeful; my foot had been feeling pretty good. It didn't hurt all that much when walking around and it didn't hurt hardly at all in the mornings. But the run didn't go well. It hurt from the start, but I kept thinking it just needed to warm-up. I looked at my watch and realized it still hadn't warmed up after 20 minutes. Then after 25 minutes I realized I was altering my stride. So Marty said, "Let's walk." And I did. Then I said, "Let's run." And off we went and the heel felt good for a bit! Then it didn't. Then it got very painful. And we walked some more, and then we just walked the rest of the way back to the car. Marty put his arm around me and told me not to worry. He was trying his best to be supportive, but I was spiraling downward into that place where us girls quickly go -- and once I got back into my car I had a good cry by myself. And then I called my dad.

Eagleman is probably out. I might do the aquabike if they let me switch, since I did fork over a lot of $$ for the race, and we have friends who will be there racing. In the back of mind (like some of you knew) I was hoping if I had a great race I may just score a Hawaii spot. Of course I don't have a big interest in doing an Ironman, but Hawaii is a different story all together. I thought I had a chance at it anyways, but definitely not anymore. And I don't want to do the race when I'm not ready or when I could hurt myself more. Because at this point, I haven't run much at all since St. Anthony's which means:

A) I haven't even gotten close to the long runs I need, and when I do run
B) It hurts, which leads to
C) Not a good idea to race a half ironman

I'm planning on aqua-jogging (thanks Marit and Jen) and doing the elliptical (I think my foot is okay with this?). And biking. Maybe my bike will get really strong, which would be a nice side effect to the bum foot.

I've also emailed a doctor who comes highly recommended from my sister (she's a PhD at UNC and a physical therapist, so I trust her judgement!). I want to get an evaluation from him because I'm a little concerned that my foot doesn't hurt in the morning. This is like the biggest, number one sign that you have PF. I want to get his opinion so I know that it is in fact PF so I can do the right things to heal it up (like looking into orthotics, etc).

I'm bummed, but I'm also fine. As much as I would like to do Eagleman, I also want to be healthy. And there are many more races in my future and I don't want to wallow around feeling sorry for myself. So I'm not!

Here is a picture of Tassie. Tassie always makes me happy.