Inside a Paranoid Runner's Mind

Remember Monday morning's triumphant post about overcoming Week 8 with flying colors?

That triumph seems to have been a bit pre-mature.

You see, my foot hurts. No, not that one. The other one. My right foot. In the same place that my left foot hurt when I was on my way to the incident-that-shall-not-be-named. It didn't pain me during Sunday's 14 miler at all. Or Sunday night. On Monday it felt sore... along with a lot of other body parts. Yesterday, it was still rather unhappy, but it didn't feel worse (or better) after my speedwork session.

Then I stupidly crammed it into a pair of mid-height heels for the work day. It protested.

This morning, it is still sore. I swam (a horrible swim, by the way) to minimize any impact, and it is still not happy. Thereofre, my mind has leapt to the unnerving conclusion that I have gone and broken myself again or am on the verge of breaking myself again.

So what do I do first? I play the blame game. What could I have done to make this part of my foot hurt?

Suspect One: Shoes. My favorite thing to blame lately. Sunday was my longest run to date in the Ghosts. Perhaps this is just my feet adjusting to the new shoes, whose toe boxes do seem to be a bit more restrictive than previous pairs. My pinkie and 4th toe didn't hurt during the long run but when I pulled my feet out of my shoes and into flip flops immediately after, both pinkie toes were very red and felt in need of stretching, especially the right one.

Maybe it was just my shoes.

Suspect Two: that bonus run that I gave myself last week. I should not have done it... it was very stupid. In retrospect, I should have first looked at the resulting % increase in mileage that the run would create. But no, I said DAMN THE MAN and ran without care.

Here's why that was a big stupid move: the week before I ran 19 miles. Last week I ran 32.

Yeah. That would be a 70% increase in mileage... or seven times the amount you are supposed to increase by each week.

Hm. I think I have found the culprit.

How could I be so reckless? I have obviously gotten over-confident and forgotten the hard lessons of last September.

Now.. what do I do?

Let me tell a thing that a paranoid runner should not do: read a bunch of articles and online forums about stress fractures. This is only leading me to elevated heart rate and feelings like I'm going to pass out or puke or both.

Do I call Dr. Cutter now and make an appointment? If I go, they will do an x ray. If this is just the start of a stress fracture, it probably won't show up on an x ray. Then I would have to do a bone scan. Bone scan = $$$ and needles. I hate needles. And I hate spending money on doctors.

Do I take a chill pill, scratch tomorrow's tempo run, and attempt Saturday's MTT run with the hope that this is just muscle ache/protest at the dramatic increase in mileage?

Do I just need to stop thinking about it, as 90% of this is likely a mental thing? (See previous freakouts and post-rule-breaking over reactions that turned out to be nothing.)

I am leaning toward option 2 of scratching tomorrow and engaging in cross training instead, hoping that the soreness is gone by Saturday morning, and going out with the team.

And trying to go with a healthy dose of option 3.