No Running For A While....

The Securian Run Half Marathon was 2 weeks ago. I ran that feeling fine. My first run after that was 5 days later, when I did some moderate intervals at the Metrodome. My heel felt a little achy at the end of that workout, so I stretched it out well. The next day (last Friday), I went out for an easy run with Pharmie. Something was definitely wrong. D'oh.

The pain was lower down my heel than it usually was. In the past, when I've had random overuse injuries, the very lower part of my calf (upper heel) is tight / sore. This time, it was very, very low down my achilles - it was only a 1/2 inch from the bottom of my foot (seemingly where my achilles meets my heel). It hurt on both the inside and the outside of my foot, but it was a bit worse on the outside.

I went to Dr. Folske yesterday (my ART Doc). I hadn't had to see him for 17 months!! I've been doing a good job at monitoring any issues and stretching well! But this pain was different than the "norm."

Bottom line? I can't run for a while and I need to sleep in this:

Dr. Folske said there's a good chance that the point where my achilles meets bone down at my heel has some micro-tears. This "boot" (it's actually called a night splint) keeps my heel neutral all night long so the tendon can heal up quicker.

If I were to keep running, I'd just be aggravating where that tendon meets bone, and my body would try to heal it by building more bone. If I kept that up, I'd need to have surgery to scrape the bone back down.

Surgery? No thank you.

So I slept in the splint last night, and it went OK. I slept pretty normally, except for whenever I moved - then the boot would hit my other leg and I'd wake up. It could have been worse. I'll wear this thing for as long as I need to, and we'll see how quickly I can get back to running. In the meantime, I'm off to the pool....

p.s. If you haven't thrown your name in the hat for $150+ in sweet shades from Ryders Eyewear, please CLICK HERE to go to my "giveaway post," and leave a comment there. Thanks!