Injured

It's peak week. Today I was scheduled to run 10 miles. Kind of funny to say it, but...no biggie. I started around 7am. Nice cool morning, perfect for a run. I had my music, my water and Gatorade. All set to go. I saw a couple friends during my 1st mile who waved and smiled (thank you ladies!)and a policeman too.

On a side note: the policemen are so friendly! They're always waving and smiling--very enthusiastically too. Not the one hand up and slight nod that I get from some drivers that seems to mean "you can thank me later for not running you off the road."

Less than 2 miles into my run I started feeling something weird in my left foot. I figured I could run it off--I was still in the warm-up phase. I kept going. And the funny feeling moved to an irritation. Then onto pain, then onto severe pain where I had to stop because I couldn't put my weight on it anymore. I took off my shoe, massaged my foot for a little bit, put my shoe back on and took a step. And then realized my run was finished.

I called Petey to come pick me up. And then the tears started. Oh, the frustration! This is my peak week--only 23 days from my marathon! Worst case scenario flitted through my head--stress fracture. That's been a worry I've kept in the back of my mind since I really started in with the longer runs. While I waited for Petey a cop drove by. He stopped and asked if I was okay. I told him I had hurt my foot and he offered me a ride home. I really wanted to take it--how fun would it be to ride in a cop car! I had to turn him down.

I got in to see my doc this morning. He did x-rays. No stress fracture. Yay! He pushed and touched and pulled and squeezed my foot all over the place and nothing hurt. I felt like I was losing my mind. I couldn't even be sure of the exact location of the pain unless I was standing/walking. Eventually he figured out it was a muscle strain--some kind of muscle between 2 bones that run from my 2 biggest toes to wherever they go.

I didn't even know I had muscles in my feet. I never took an anatomy class--I usually think of muscles as the big ones--quads, hams, calves...etc. So, there you have my blond moment--muscles in feet, it never crossed my mind.

I'm in a lot of pain, even with the ibuprofen and Aspercreme and icing. Okay, scratch that--I'm only in a lot of pain if I'm standing or walking--which is more hobbling than walking.

I just have to hope this thing heals quickly and I'll still be able to run my race.