Cooling my heels . . . literally

After years and years of injury-free running, I may be out of commission for a while. I've got plantar fasciitis, and it sucks. Every other time I've had to take a break from running, it's been a result of something other than an injury - asthma, migraines, pregnancy. I guess it was time for me to be sidelined, but it sucks that it happened just as I was getting back into a groove.

I first noticed a problem a few weeks ago; by the end of the day my heels would be throbbing. It felt like I'd been in high-heels all day instead of my Keens. I asked Liz and mom about PF since they've both had it, mom badly enough to need surgery, but they both said their pain was worse first thing in the morning. So I figured my pain was due to being on my feet a lot.

Things got much worse though. I especially noticed the pain when I was up with Campbell in the middle of the night during our week of Ferberizing (which is going much better now). I'd get up to check on Campbell and end up hobbling to the front of the house.

So I switched to wearing my Birks and my Danskos, both of which have good arch support. I started stretching obsessively and icing the bottoms of my feet with a frozen water bottle. I even took a week off running. I thought things were better, so I went running this morning. Part-way through the run, as we were running backwards up the spiral ramp at Lamar, I felt something in my right foot pop, and I spent the rest of the run in pain.

I'll continue icing and stretching and not wearing my super-cute new shoes and take the next two days off. My goal is to be able to run with Liz on Saturday. Of course, with all the time I'm taking off, I may not be able to even remotely keep up with her.