Painfree at last!

After some prodding from my husband, I made an appointment and went to the doctor for my foot. I was pretty sure it was plantar fasciitis, an inflammation on the bottom of your feet.

It kind've cracked me up though when as I was telling the nurse about my last long run of 12 miles and she said, you ran 12 miles, do you get paid to run or money if you place? No. And then my doctor asked me if it was 12 miles at one time.

After looking at my foot, which has hindered me from running for almost three weeks, the doctor said she would recommend a cortisone shot to my foot because of the plantar fasciitis. The girls were so sweet and held my hand while I got my shot to the bottom of my foot. What to expect when you get a shot on the bottom of your foot -- searing, searing pain followed by a weird feeling like you are wearing a sock and then soreness. I would recommend ice and ibuprofen after the shot, which will literally hurt all night. But in the morning, sweet relief.

Dr. Z said to take it easy for two or three days and that I could run today!

Score! I ran 2.5 miles today for the first time almost pain free since three weeks ago. And my middle mile was at 8:50 pace and it felt fine. I also did some weights and stretched for 15 minutes. My friend Heather says she stretches for 45 minutes!

Running today was almost a religious experience. You laugh. But when you haven't ran or exercised and you are used to those endorphins, it's almost like a drug. I kept on thinking today that each day is such a gift. Such a great gift.

So after my fail of running the Emerald City Half Marathon in Dubin, I still really wanted to fit in a half marathon this fall so today I registered for the Nationwide Half Marathon. I have already done long runs of 9, 10, 11, 12.5 mile runs so I think the extra 3 long runs of 10, 11, 12-13 will really help my endurance.

Excited to see if this time works and if the foot heals. The best way to prevent this injury is to maintain your running shoes. I wore mine out. Literally. It may seem like $100 is a lot to pay for shoes, but hurting your feet and not being able to keep up with your kids is not worth it!

Just in case you ever have PF, here are some items that have helped me the most:

Helpful items that brought about relief

• Frozen water bottles rolling on bottom of feet
• Ibuprofen
• Lysine Vit - for sports injuries
• Not running
• Taking small french rolling pin to my calves - Brandon rolled my calves out for 20 min. and I felt 60 percent better.
• Cortisone shot helped to take away the edge and helped me finally run pain free

What didn't help

• More rest. As I read somewhere, PF can sometimes hurt more if your calves are tight and the foot pain is just a symptom. Even if you rest, your calves won't untighten themselves. Doctors would disagree about the finer points of this logic, but the rolling pin to the calf helped me so much. I read about a guy who ran Hood to Coast after having a calf massage.
• Heat
• Shoes with arches helped somewhat but I was still sore after walking around for awhile.
• Yoga. I thought that yoga would be good, but it really aggravated the foot. Ouch. Felt like leaving mid-downward dog pose, but that would be awkward! :)