Day 4 of 35: Swimming Group!

I found a swimming group!! So excited!

They meet Monday - Friday at 5:30am and swim for 1 1/2 hours!!! There is a coach that helps with technique and leads the workouts.

Through my previous stress fracture I did some swimming, but always wanted someone to help me with technique and workouts - well here it is!!!

I am going tomorrow to meet them - but I am pretty scared about the temperature! It is a heated outdoor pool - it has been getting really cold here in the mornings and I don't want to freeze to death!!!

I'ts not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you. 

Not looking forward to tomorrow. Going to work for the first time back in the boot and crutches. I have to face everyone's questions as to what happened again - and questions and comments on how I should probably choose another hobby - oh and how did the marathon go - and yada yada yada. I think this kind of stuff is the most difficult for me.

Day 4 of 35 means it is the 4th day of the initial 35 days. My next appointment is December 14th which would be 35 days. This doesn't mean the boot will go away on the 35th day. I am just counting them down until I go back. When I looked back on my previous SF I realized I didn't document anything.This time around I am going to track it - so this is mostly for me - but also for anyone that wants to see how an injured person copes with the unavoidable, for the second time.

Day 2: Verdict is in, again.

When I got to the Dr's office I was still praying hard that it was not a break or a fracture. I still had a little hope that it was a pulled muscle, strain or sprain.
Part of me was not convinced it was another stress fracture because the pain this time is much worse. I can not walk on my foot. When I step I have to put all the weigh on my heel. Try walking like that, it takes forever to get anywhere and it starts burning other muscles in your leg. If weight starts shifting anywhere else in the foot is so unbearable. With my previous fracture I could walk all day on it. Even after the diagnosis came in I was telling people that I didn't believe it was a fracture (but you can't argue with an x-ray!).

He immediatly did an xray and then started feeling my foot asking where the pain was. After he was done feeling around and before viewing the xray - he said well, its a stress fracuture - then he flipped the xray on zoomed into the 3rd metatarsal and clear as day - it was a solid crack straight across the neck of my 3rd metatarsal. Much more clear, visibile and bigger than the one I had before. He said - wow you have almost broken that thing in half!!

At this point I wanted to cry, I wanted to just throw my hands up and give up. I wanted to pinch myself and wake up from the nightmare I have been living in for the past 2 weeks.

He didn't stop there, he pulled out his peice of paper and went to town on what I had to do...

1. Stress Fracture -

the neck of the 3rd metatarasl right foot.

2. Boot

3. Crutches.

4. NO weight at all on the foot -

if you need to go to the fridge have someone go for you or use the crutches

5. Ibprophen for pain

6. Follow up in 5 weeks.

Then he turned to me and said "see you in a few weeks!" And that was that.

So easy for him to say to me. His easy simple words were the hardest words for me to digest. His quick 5 minutes were the worst 5 minutes for me. And now I will spend the next 6-8 weeks dealing with his easy words and fastest 5 minutes.


Now I am trying to figure out WHY I would get another one in a different foot. Is there an underlying cause??

Day 1: Stim Treatment

When I woke up this morning I was kind of excited. I knew I was going to see someone about my foot. I have been stuck in the City all week with work so I haven't been able to get any where with what is going on! I met my coach at UT and we hobbled over the the Sports Physical Therapist department.

I knew I probably wasn't going to get a definite answer as to what was wrong, but at least I would have someone giving me their thoughts!

When the therapist looked at it, she immediately thought it was a stress fracture. I think most medical examiners automatically assume runners with feet pain have stress fractures! She felt around for pain and it was located in the metatarsal area. She pulled out her tuning fork and touched it all over the bones in my foot. There was nothing. Usually, she said, if there was  break or fracture it would be painful. I didn't feel anything. She said that this was a good sign!

After all of that she hooked me up to do some Stim Treatment - which is Electric Stimulation.

It felt like I was being electrocuted!  I had to sit with this on for 15 minutes. It was supposed to help numb the pain and help with inflammation. It actually just localized the pain - rather than it being all over the foot it was more central (between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal). After that she wrapped me up in an ace bandang and I was on my way!

The therapist also suggested I break out my boot from before and start sporting it around....

 I decided to not wear it in public yet. I want to see the Dr. first. I also decided if I do have to wear this thing I am going to bedazzle the heck out of it!!!

NYC: Injured Again

More details to come after my doctor visit.

A short recap - the Monday before NYC I got this pain in my foot, so I went to the Dr. He x-rayed it and saw nothing and told me to go for it and have fun. It was probably nothing. He told me not to run until the Marathon, just to stay off of my feet.

I attempted the NYC Marathon after the doctor said I was good to go. I should have listened to my gut feeling and stayed out - but I went for it and made it mile 5 and now I am not walking. I am still in NYC for work and will not be back home until later tonight. First thing in the morning I am going to see a trainer to get a first opinion.

PRAYING and PRAYING this isn't serious.

There are tons of fun highlights from the weekend that I will recap later, but right now I am trying to get past the pain in the foot I have and get it taken care of.

This sums up my run...

off to the dr to find out what is REALLY going on with my right foot.

remember...

Today I am reminding myself of this post 


and especially of these...

Never complain about my times or stress.
I will constantly compliment other runners, even when they are faster than me!!
I will give myself to my group runs every day (well maybe 2 days).
I will stop complaining about my weight. These 2 weeks are starting to show on my body, and I must run!!! I promise I will never say anything about my weight if I can run again - this is a HUGE thing for me!
I will practice better recovry - ICE and REST!!!



I am running again, that is what I wanted...  and I am taking it for granted!

Scared to Death

It has been a week since my diagnosis. I have not eaten a single piece of meat in 7 days. I don't think I have ever done this. I don't feel bad and I don't miss it. I have been eating peanut butter and greek yogurt to get my protein and also an occasional protein shake.

Here are the runs I have gotten in this week...

Monday: Swimming 1800 Meters
Tuesday: 5 Miles - outside
Wednesday: 7.16 Miles 60 Minutes - Treadmill
Thursday: 5.56 Miles 46 Minutes - Treadmill
Friday: 5.57 Miles 46 Minutes - Treadmill

Then lets talk about today... I was scheduled for an easy 14 Miles. I wanted to so badly get out and run and feel no pain in the foot and to conquer the 14 miles like my old self. On Thursday night I quit taking the medicine I was prescribed because 1. My foot was feeling fine and 2. I was feeling HORRIBLE.. I mean like sick to my stomach and all I wanted to do was curl up in ball and die horrible. Well Friday felt GREAT running on the treadmill, the sick feeling wasn't there and my foot was feeling great. Then Friday night came around...  went to bed and then was woken up around midnight by the "pain" creaping back... so I jumped up and decided to take the medicine...

I got up at 4:30 because I wanted to start running at 5. My foot was feeling a little pain, but once I put my shoes on and I jumped around it felt like I could handle it. So I set out at 5 to do my run. I was feeling a bit winded (which is the medicine) at first. I got my 3 miles in before I met up with the big group... then I set out again. My pace was extrememly slow, but I didn't care. My goal was just to get the 14 in. I was doing 8:45's. Half way through the run my stomach started killing me... like I needed to find a bathroom- stat - but there were non on the course. I tried to ignore it, but then it started turning into a sick feeling. All of my friends had long left me because their paces are like 8:00-8:15's and there I was almost doing 9:00 miles! (this is so embarrassing to me, by the way, but whatever - I am determined to get past this obstacle - I KNOW I will get my normal self back some day). So I kept on with the stomach issues... I was trying every mental trick I could find... I was changing my IPOD every 30 seconds trying to find "that" song that would motivate me - but nothing was working.

I made it back to the group start - which means I had less than 3 miles to go... I got water and tried to set out again - but I had nothing left... I was at 11.80 miles... I know I only had 2.2 to go but there was nothing left. I decided to turn around and ask for a ride back... this was me at my lowest point of running in my head.. but I did it anyways - I wasn't going to let my pride get in the way and cause more problems. Luckily the first couple I asked was more than happy to get me back to my car.

So I ended up doing 11.8 Miles at an 8:45 pace.

THE.WORST.RUN of this runners life.

I am scared to death that this issue is not going to go away.

I am scared to death that I won't be able to run NYC.

I am scared to death of having to give up.

I am not going to let this get to me - I got through a stress fracture - I can get through this - whatever "this" is.