Running sucks, and my Foot sucks!!! :-(

Well here we are three weeks from race-day, and I have a foot which I can hardly run on. And it Sucks!!!

On the long run last weekend my foot started to feel a bit odd, but bearable. I figured we're getting old, and have been doing quite a lot of long runs, so with 800 foot falls per foot per mile that's quite a bit of beating for the old plates of meat.

On Monday my right foot felt bad even just when walking and positively hurt when I ran (I was only running to see if would hurt, and it did). Dull achy pain between the ball of my foot and my big toe which escalates into a sharp stabbing pain when I push down with my toe (again 800 pushdowns per mile that's quite a lot of sharp pains to put up with, and while ibuprofen helped with the ache it did little to nothing for the stabbing...)

Decided rest was a good idea so didn't run on Tuesday or Thursday (granted Thursday was more from having a tiny little hangover for most of the day and just looking forward to getting home and to lie on the sofa.) Then Saturday came, and I needed to do some gift wrapping and christmas prep, and didn't think a rest would be a bad idea as it still hurt just to walk/trot short distances... :-(

I did make a doctors appointment on Thursday, without really having much of a clue what the doctor would say other than "if it hurts to run on it, then don't run on it". From looking around it sounds like the generic metatarsalgia or worse (and if you read the causes, more probably) Sesamoiditis http://wiki.runnersworld.com/index.php/Sesamoiditis . Neither of which are really going to mean that all is right in three weeks. However, my Doctor is great, she is a runner, who has given both of us decent advice in the past so I figure a visit is a good idea.

I started having a bit of a panic last night, as in three weeks I have to complete not only a half marathon, but a full one the day after, and I can't do that I don't keep up the training. So decided that I was going to run today, and spike my run with painkillers.

Well three miles in and the pain was there but bearable, so bearable that I stopped 'thinking' about my footfalls, this was good. (plus I was enjoying the Sookie Stackhouse book I was listening to).

Then we hit three and a half miles and pain just shot through me I had to stop, and had that horrible, "Have I just made things a thousand times worse" feeling. Tried running again, and really couldn't without huge worry that I was potentially doing more damage. Walking was uncomfortable, but not too bad. So we decided to turn around and walk back.

Sunny was great while I was having my little tantrum, as I really don't want this to be happening right now.

Last year would have been worse, as it was our first marathon and I would have been heartbroken to have another hurdle when we already weren't sure if we could do it. Completing a marathon was an aim I had set and I was really driven to complete.

Where as this year, we know we can do mentally, cardio-wise and leg/body muscle-wise. But now here's an irritation, which will make the whole thing very unpleasant. We can still complete both races, but (as we discussed on my walk of shame home today) maybe we have to reconsider how things are done; maybe we have to really conserve ourselves for the big race.

Walking the half marathon won't be a problem within the timescales. Not sure that it would be much fun, but we could do it with ease.

That would mean that for the full marathon, we could run as far as I could manage. I am really hoping that, with rest and race day excitement (and enough ibuprofen) , todays three miles would be stretched to at least thirteen. then a brisk walk for ten miles before a three mile trot to the end.

Yes it would mean we will be even slower than we'd hoped, but it still should mean that we'll see the finish lines and wear the medals...

(I do feel horrible to be a bit broken at a time where I want to be at my best, but we deal with the cards we are dealt I guess..)