Another foot injury, really?

Last week I had some really solid training runs and felt great about where I am at training wise. A 3 mile run in under 24 minutes and another solid 7 mile run in under 1 hour; not to mention most of my paces have been between 8:00 min per mile pace and 8:30 min per mile pace. This is definitely where I want to be at this point in my workouts. After running off-road on Wednesday night in the mud and rocks the top of my foot began to hurt and I figured I had tied my shoes too tight or something.

Thursday's 4 mile workout was not bad at all and there was not really any pain associated with that run, but when I went to go run on Saturday morning it was an entirely different story. At mile 3 of my 7 mile run my foot began to ache and it got severe enough that I just about quit and walked home; however, I continued and finished my run. By the end of the run I was not hurting as bad as I had been, but could feel pain later in the day. So I am not sure exactly what I have done to my foot, but there are possibilities it is a stress fracture, but also bruising of the tendons on the top of my foot as well.

I have decided to ratchet down my running portion this week and see how my foot is doing a week out. I will limit myself to cross training (swimming, biking and weights) and non-contact exercise to see if it begins to feel better. I do not want all of my training to go to waste and be sidelined for the 3rd time in a calendar year with some form of foot/ankle injury. Last December-April it was Plantar Fasciitis. This past November through January it was my severe ankle sprain from a bone-headed home injury and now this....guess I need to pace myself and see what transpires.

I was reading on Camille Herron's web page yesterday and found that she has had 7 different kinds of stress fractures. This woman is a World Record holder in marathon's and is an inspiration to many; including me. She is from Norman, Oklahoma and thus is a local runner and competes in many of the local races. She has even dealt with Plantar Fasciitis and has overcome it just as I did. I changed shoes amongst things and began to train better. I will keep you updated on how my foot does, but I have so much riding on it right now that I cannot afford to be sidelined for several weeks. The Oklahoma City Marathon is less than 2 months away along with a slew of other races I am registered to run in.

Here's to health and wellness!
Zealin' it for life!