Richmond Marathon Training: Week 8 - THE END

This week was going so well.

4 runs for 30 miles and a day of yoga.

Training highlights:

• Broke 30 miles in a week for the first time ever (no pun intended...)
• Sucked it up and ran 8 outside on Wednesday even though it was pretty darn warm out.

Training lowlights:

• I broke my foot.

 

I wish I was kidding.

 

Saturday's run was supposed to be a 15 miler. I made it Richmond to run with my friend Siri by 6:30 a.m. - a true miracle. It was extremely muggy and not the most pleasant run for the first 9 miles because my shorts were so drenched that their weight was making them slide down my butt. And a nagging pain had started on the outside edge of my left foot.

 

This pain first showed up on Tuesday night during yoga class. We were doing a wide legged forward bend and I was really pushing myself.

 

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I wanted to get the top of my head on the ground, so I had my legs very far apart. There was a lot of pressure on the outside edges of my feet and I felt what I assumed was a muscle pull or strain in my left foot.

 

When my foot hurt a bit during Wednesday 8 miler, I chalked it up to residual muscle ache from yoga.

 

On Saturday, by the time we got to mile 10 I knew I was in trouble. The pain was shooting. We were so far away from our cars that really the only option was to hoof it back, so we cut the route short and walk/ran back to the Y at my insistence. I figured I had really pulled that muscle big time but wasn't really freaking out yet.

 

By the time I got home, I could barely make it from the car to my house. Husband carried me up the stairs to our room where we took off my shoes. There wasn't any swelling or outward appearance of injury. I took a shower then iced the foot. We went about our planned Saturday (shopping, dinner, baseball game). I was hobbling and slow, but not in excruciating pain.

 

On Sunday morning when I woke up I instantly knew it was worse - the foot was definitely swollen and I couldn't put any weight on it. We decided to go to Patient First (an urgent care facility in our area). I did not want to go there but it was our only option as I refuse to go to emergency rooms unless there is a true emergency. X-rays revealed the break. Before I knew it, I had crutches and a boot that seems to weigh more than me along with instructions to get to an orthopedist as soon as possible.

 

This being a holiday weekend, I haven't been to the orthopedist yet. I spent most of yesterday crying, more out of frustration than anything. Tomorrow morning I'm calling my doc at the sports medicine office first thing to see if they can fit me in. All that I am hoping for at this point is a boot that doesn't weigh 50 pounds and come up to my knee.

 

I have avoided writing this entry because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold it together long enough to get it out. Today I have only cried twice. I'm going to end the entry here because I don't think I can say much more about it right now without making it three times.