Setbacks

If it’s the only thing you do today, you should go read “The Truth About Being Healthy [hint: it doesn’t look like Pinterest]” from A Life Less Bullshit. This is without hyperbole my favorite thing I've read this year and I must admit I’m a smidgen jealous that I didn't write it.

You can leave me now or stick with me for a bit, up to you. This has been a tough few weeks for me. I have some personal life stuff going on that isn't ready to be shared in such a public way but it’s deeply affecting me. I love blogging and writing, but I am in a deep funk that’s making it hard to feel motivated to actually produce content. As if that weren't enough, this week I’m experiencing my first serious running complication.

I woke up throughout the night Wednesday into Thursday with pain in the top of my left foot. I knew doing the one mile run and circuit workout (burpees, mountain climbers, etc.) at home was a bad idea. I went to the gym and put in some time on the ARC trainer and focused on arms and static squats instead. I iced my foot throughout the day and took ibuprofen for any swelling (I never take pain killers unless it’s serious). On Thursday it only hurt when I walked for more than a couple minutes, and yesterday there was no pain.

I got up this morning for my planned 8 mile run and started okay. I was looking forward to the run as an antidote to my otherwise negative mood. After about a mile I noticed a slight pain but thought I might be over-analyzing how I was feeling. By 1.5 miles I knew it was real pain and I decided to turn around and head for home. I walked for a second to slow for a sharp turn and when I picked up my run I knew I should stop. It was raining. I called Carly to come pick me up and walked through the rain until she got there.

I went to the gym and did 60 minutes on the ARC trainer to simulate the amount of time I would have been out running. It’s not the same but it is something I can do to keep my cardio endurance without pounding on my foot. I am supposed to run my 10K next Saturday and my half three weeks later. My plan as of now is to RICE my foot, sub ARC training for my runs this week in terms of time, and do a test jog Thursday to see how the foot feels. If it still hurts I’m going to have to skip the 10k. Luckily I only paid $6 for it, no big loss. The half is much more important, it was more expensive & I already paid a deposit on a hotel.

Any advice from runners is welcome. I don’t have a primary doctor here but I may have to seek one out. To bring it all together, health and wellness is hard. This has been an exceptionally hard week. Running has become a great stress reliever and joyful practice, and it’s hard to not have it in this emotionally draining time. The temptation to eat a bunch of crap and lay around all day is ever present and I’m fighting it constantly. Fingers crossed that the foot feels better in a week!