Prognosis: Good

I saw my foot doctor yesterday, and he was very happy with the progress over the last two weeks. Instead of a 4 inch wide area of tenderness with my tendonitis (Posterior Tibial Tendonitis), it is focused on a very small area, about an inch. He told me that means it's healing up very well, and that this tender area is focused on where I did the tear. I'm still going to have to live in the ankle brace for another 3-4 weeks, and he showed me how to tape the ankle for added support. It will help at Heartland, just 3 weeks away. I wanted to get his opinion on whether I needed to cancel the run, or go as planned. He told me if it hadn't improved much from two weeks ago, he would have advised against running it. He believes I will be fine. But I'll have to 'baby' it for awhile still, and I'll need to avoid rough and rocky trails for the time being, at least until it's healed enough to deal with the uneven side-to-side terrain of trails. Looks like more boring flat dirt and rolling dirt roads at least until Heartland.

At least I can still proceed with focusing on the 3 100's scheduled the next few months for my Fall of Pain Series: Heartland, Motherroad II and Javelina.

Pain In My Foot

It seems I have a sprain in my right foot, on the left side this time. I've had it for awhile now, I just didn't realize it. In fact, I had it while running Lean Horse a few weeks ago. Originally I thought it was Plantar Fasciitis, but it seemed a little higher up than usual. I wrapped my foot with tape for the run for plantar type issues. I was a bit alarmed when I took off the tape and saw it slightly swollen and some bruising, down along my big toe.

I finally got to see my podiatrist to take a look at it, and he was puzzled as to why I had it. I didn't feel a pop, hear a pop, or hit it on anything. He told me to wear a brace for two weeks 24/7 and see how it feels then. He allowed me to go back to normal running (good thing, as I was going to anyway) but take notice of any pain in that area. This is a little more serious than my other sprains of late, which are usually on the anterior (outward) side of my foot and are easily braced. This sprain could lead to fallen arches and surgery if the tendon does rupture away from the talus of my foot. Since I've been running on it for the past 3 weeks (albeit taped) I'm not overly concerned. The pain is also not a lot (a 2 on a 1 to 10 scale). He thinks I'll be okay in a few weeks. I already feel a lot better with the brace supporting it. I was going to run this past weekend, but I opted to let the foot heal up a bit and besides, I had a ton of shit to do around the house this weekend anyway that had a higher calling and larger pull on me. I was going to run today but it's raining and cool out, so I'll opt to run tomorrow when it's supposed to be back into the 70's and sunny again.