Saturday, September 11, 2010

The latest news

I went to the podiatrist on Wednesday to figure out what's going on with my feet (particularly my left foot). Turns out that I over-pronate, which causes a bone to go out of alignment and aggravate a tendon. This then causes inflammation and pain. Yeah, my left foot (inner ankle area) has been swollen for a couple of months and I was trying to ignore it.

So, the solution is to get custom orthotics. He made casts of my feet and the orthotics should arrive in a couple of weeks. Then there will be a breaking-in period. It is possible that I won't be able to get enough training in to be ready for NYC.

Twin Cities marathon is definitely off the table, though I may end up doing the 10 miler there if I can weasel my way in. (The 10 miler is closed for registration but I may be able to work something out.) If I can't get into the 10 miler, then I'll probably at least do the 10K that's the day before the marathon. I'm planning to go to Minneapolis regardless of my racing status. There's fun to be had and friends to see!

While I'm waiting for the orthotics to arrive, I need to get rid of the inflammation and pain in my foot. The doctor put me on a steroid to help reduce the swelling, and I've had a couple of Phoresor treatments. Phoresor is a device that uses low-intensity electrical current to drive medication into the swollen area. I had treatments on Wednesday and Friday and my foot feels so much better. It's nice to be free of the chronic pain and swelling. One more treatment to go, on Tuesday. And I'll be done with the steroids on Monday.

The podiatrist told me to take it easy for the next couple of weeks, while we get rid of the swelling and wait for the orthotics. I asked him if that means no running. I get the sense that he would prefer it if I don't run, but he's a runner himself so he understands I want to run. He said I can run as long as it doesn't hurt and I should ice it after running. And long runs would probably not be a good idea. He looked at me like I was psycho when I told him that today was supposed to be my 20 mile training run for Twin Cities. I assured him that I would not be running 20 miles today nor will I be running the Twin Cities marathon. :)

I did 3.25 miles on Thursday and 7.13 miles today. My feet feel pretty good. I am having some twinges in the left foot, but no new swelling so that's good. I iced after running today like a good girl. I'm hoping I'll still be able to run the Romeo2Richmond half marathon on Sunday, 9/19 but we'll see. I'm not going to do anything stupid!

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