Foot issues

So, after I ran on Thursday last week, I felt pretty good--until I woke up on Friday morning. My foot hurt so bad, I could barely walk to the bathroom. As the day went on, it got better slowly but it still hurt. I'm starting to think I may have injured it pretty badly.

Saturday morning I woke up and it was like a new day, like my foot didn't even hurt the day before. I felt great. The weather was gorgeous, so I ended up taking a 9 mile bike ride outside by myself. It was gorgeous out! I still have a cold, but it was so nice out that I took advantage of that.

Sunday was the day for my 7 mile run. Hubby ran a half-marathon in the morning and it was cold! Standing there, cheering him on with the kids, the chill got to my bones. But after we all got home it was time for me to go out and do my training run. Today, my cold was hitting me really hard. I really wanted to take a nap with the rest of the family, but I knew I had to do this. The wind was pretty strong, so I set out to a local metropark, where the trail would be blocked from the wind.

I ran the 7 miles, but had to stop a few times to catch my breath. My cold was not making it easy to breath so at 3.5 miles, when the trail stopped and I had to figure out where to go, I stopped for a breather. Then at 5 miles I stopped to put my coat in the car and took another breather (the temperature had gone up 10 degrees during my run). I finished the 7 miles though.

Unfortunately, Monday morning brought the pain again. It hurt so bad that I had to crawl to the bathroom on my hands and knees. As much pain as I'm in during these episodes, all I could think about is "I hope I can run tomorrow" and "I hope I don't have to give up running." I want to finish this half-marathon. I can rest my body after that. In the meantime, I still have work to do.

Again, this morning, I was able to walk again. I had a little more pain than usual, but by the time it came time to run, I felt good enough. As I started off, my arch hurt a little bit and I felt myself overcompensating for it and my thigh on the other leg hurt. I became more conscious of how I was running. After I got through that, the 4.5 miles on the schedule today was pretty good.

After talking with several different people, it sounds like I have plantar fasciitis. I'm icing my foot after each run, and now I have a brace that holds my foot flexed at night. Tonight is the first night I'll be using the brace, so I'm really hoping that tomorrow will be easier to bear. I just pray that this helps. I really, really want to be able to run this half-marathon in May. I don't want to hurt my foot even more and not be able to run. I keep telling people that it only hurts badly the day after I run, but if I run just about every other day.... that's not good. We'll see what this brace does. I might also get some orthodics for my running shoes for plantar fasciitis. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed.