In a somewhat predictable turn of events, I mangled my foot some more when I went grocery shopping yesterday. I stepped down wrong on the left foot, it couldn't bear the weight on the weakened tendons, so the foot twisted as it failed to hold me, and ended up causing more pain. I finished my grocery shopping and had the longest walk home ever. Lots of pain.

I napped for 5 hours after combining wine, ibuprofen and numbing my foot with an ice pack. Below is the look of the foot. The photos don't really do the swelling justice, but it's there.




At this rate, I'm glad that I have a doctor's appointment next week. I'll have them take a look at it, and hopefully they'll have some kind of excellent advice beyond trying not to walk on it - which is next to impossible unless my health insurance will fund a taxi to take me to work each day.

My foot has shown remarkable improvement over the past few days, and I don't think it's just because I swapped over to Aleve and medicated myself into numbness. Yesterday I discovered that I could walk without a dramatic limp and that the stepping motion which causes my toes to bend upwards didn't result in sharp, balance-losing pain. Last night, the top of my foot even felt itchy like a healing bruise.

The top of my foot is still swollen, but its feel more superficial now that I'm not in constantly pain with every step. I even half-jogged back to the locker room when I forgot my ipod yesterday afternoon. Okay, maybe not half jogged; limp-bounced in an awkward fashion.

All in all, I have high hopes that I'll be in good enough condition to run the 5k on Sunday. This might seem a bit optimistic. But really, how much damage can I do in 30 minutes? Or if I do damage, how long will it take to actually physically manifest itself in a debilitating manner? More than 30 minutes is what I'm betting!

The other option would be to skip the race and focus on healing in order to pull a normal time at the BAA 5k in April. That's 5 weeks out. I just really want the RNH medal, and to jog in costume. I added a green tie from target to my festive outfit this year. I don't want to waste that $1.00 elasticized tie.

I'll be back with an update later this week. Today is leg day. We'll see how calf raises go.

Having diagnosed my problem, you'd think I could focus on the road to recovery. But if you thought that, you probably don't know me that well. Faced with the possibility of not being able to run, I've returned to my old standby: heavy weight lifting.

I jumped back into my old routine this week with a vengeance (upper/lower body splits plus cardio on the bike). It was both exhilerating and humbling. "Humbling" seems to be a common feeling when it comes to fitness for me lately. I'm lifting dramatically less than I used to, which is expected, but makes getting back seem very far away. For example, I was around 250 on the leg press last year, but was easing myself back in yesterday with 135lb. I didn't bother with additional weight on my squats at first, trying to just get my form right, and when I did, I was quivering (okay, my injured foot gave out) after my fourth set of 6 reps at 65 lbs. That's right, 65lb. Shame!

This past week I've found myself fantasizing about doing box jumps again and jumping lunges. I remember the way it felt to do a pull-up without half my body weight compensated for with a band. I remember what it was like to gave guns.

In any case, I went to the laundromat this morning (a new routine because I've had it with the laundry in my building) and then went grocery shopping. My foot feels like its broken, just straight up broken, and my entire body aches all over with exhaustion. How it is that walking cumulatively like a mere mile with groceries or laundry rivals the most challenging days at the gym?

My foot is wrapped in ice, elevated, I've taken advil and I am fed.

I'm going to take a nap.

Extensor Tendinitis

So last June I came down with extensor tendinitis. It started like this. I went for a starter jog, like 2-3 miles, nothing remotely rough. After the jog, I settled down in the park for some leg work and stretching. Squats and lunges in the grass.

During one of my lunges, I stepped back on a divot in the ground, twisting my foot a little funny, but nothing traumatizing. I continued to lunges, stretch and headed home. A couple of days later, I got this aching pain in the top of my foot. A pain that grew and grew. You could see the swelling on the top of my foot. It couldn't bear much weight and I certainly couldn't run.

I swapped to flip flops which only made it worse. Thus I thought that perhaps it wasn't the mis-step in the grass, but instead the build up of flip-flop induced foot pain. You know how you have to curl your toes when you step to hold the flip flop in place? I assume that was the issue. I wore regular shoes for a couple of weeks and it all got better. I resumed wearing flip flops, but it never bothered me again.

Until last week. I've been running in the vibrams inconsistently. Or rather, I've running inconsistently, but wearing the vibrams only. Only 2-3 jogs per week, for short distances. I've had no problem except the achy calves after about 2 miles.

Then on the weekend of the 19th, I wore these completely unsupported, flat footed thin ballet flats. These were my flat shoes of choice last summer also. I power walked around many miles in these shoes on Sunday and then again on Tuesday. And by Tuesday my left foot was in massive pain. The whole top of the foot is swollen. I can't land on the foot. I have sharp pain in my three middle does when I bend them in any fashion. It's straight up awful. I'm limping around awkwardly.

I've also been icing my foot for a week. I briefly wrapped it, but that didn't seem to help. I take ibuprofin morning and night. I've rubbed it down with icy hot. And I haven't run since the 19th. I've even taken to hopping on the bus to get to the train station rather than walking the short half mile. Cumulatively my commute walks me 2 miles per day. That's just day to day wear and tear. But I'm wondering if even that won't help. I've self-diagnosed with the extensor tendinitis again, but with all of these injuries there is just no good or fast treatment.

Last night I kept waking up in pain as I turn in bed or my foot lay in an awkward position. It's getting miserable. Then I tripped on this hose at work today, forcing me to land hard on the ball of the left foot, sending shooting pain in all directions.

This is lame. St. Patrick's Day 5k is in 1 1/2 weeks. Must fix this problem now, so I can run my first race in vibrams.