For the past three weeks I've traded a 10 mile bike ride for a three mile run, just once a week, to see if I could handle the pain of my plantar fasciitis, thereby making a weekly run worthwhile. I decided I'd get extremely proactive with icing, stretching and using my PF boot.
The first week was okay but predictably the morning after I woke up and had some pretty significant pain upon standing. It's nothing like that one time last fall when I woke up the next morning and wondered if I'd have to literally crawl to the bathroom to get ready for work. Walking was that impossible.
The second week I really focused HARD on stretching while my body was still warm from the workout, and icing once I'd cooled off. That really helped, but I had run on a Tuesday. Wednesday is Chore Day and I was on my feet all day. It was a pain-filled day due to that, but Thursday I woke with zero pain, just a little stiffness.
That's why I decided to run yesterday. I work Tuesdays so I knew I could focus on stretching, but ultimately stay off my feet whilst I worked. By Wednesday I'd be fine. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if I should have run on a day when so many runners suffered up in Boston. I know that's likely very silly but there you are. Anyways, I was motivated more by a day of relative rest afterwards, so onward and upward I suppose.
It was a sluggish run, though. I am still so tired from Alex's birthday party this past Saturday and that fatigue really manifested itself yesterday. Plus the wind! Jesus Christ, it was like running in a dream whenever I was running westward. You know that feeling, right? Where you are either fleeing something or chasing something and your desire is speed speed speed, but it's just impossible. That was me yesterday.
Patton was also slower than normal, hanging by my side like OH MY GOD A DOG IS SUPPOSED TO. He is a headstrong puppa and no amount of passive, laid back training helped so we threw a prong collar on that son of a bitch (not offensive, he is a dog) and compromised that way. Anyways, so we're just two slow ass movers yesterday, battling the wind and the sun.
Due to my fatigue I wasn't as aggressive with my post run stretches. I was hot and thirsty and wiped out so I went ahead and copied my trusty hound and took off my shoes and socks and laid on the cool concrete floor while Todd dropped some ice into my water bottle. It worked though! Dogs are smart. Not that he has many other options for places to cool off: the ground outside (too sunny), the dog bed (too warm) or occasionally the sofa (too high). But of those options clearly he made the right choice.
Anyways, long story short (too late*), after an icing and actual progress where wearing my boot while sleeping is concerned, I'm happy to report that I didn't have to limp, not even a little bit, when I woke up this morning. Sure there's soreness, but I could easily compare this to the pain I felt every single day for months after the triathlon, even when I'd completely removed running from my workout regimen.
I feel like the sun is starting to peek out after a long, long bout of darkness. That's what it feels like, being held back by a stupid injury that could have been so easily avoided by stretching. So I'm going to do a home workout tonight, and I'm going to ice, and stretch, and I think I'm going to do that every night this week. If I have to do it every night for the rest of my life, just so I have the freedom to choose whatever form of motion I want, I think I'll do it.
It feels trivial to talk about such a small thing with such big words, again, after such a tragedy happened yesterday, a tragedy that happened to runners. It IS a small thing, I acknowledge that, but it's also a small victory for me, and for that I'm so, so grateful.
*NAME THAT MOVIE IT'S ONLY MY FAVORITE
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