I do not have good running form. I'm aware of this and have taken steps to improve it..sorta. I really felt like I had good form for my first half marathon and didn't feel like I was in much pain while training, during the half, or the few days after. Maybe it was because I was consistent with where I was running (on a treadmill at the gym) or maybe I just was running more and that conditioned me to run better. The training for this half hasn't gone as planned. It seems like I have less time to train and when I do, I'm just not in the mood to run as long. The nice weather has helped when I run outside, but it also is a good excuse to get food/drinks on a deck somewhere. Either way, I've noticed some serious pain in my very minimal training for the half I am running this Saturday...where is this pain? All over my foot. Seriously, it seems to hurt everywhere, but if I had to localize it, I would say the main sources are my heel and my 2nd metatarsal:
and
And this is how I feel every time I get a shooting pain in my foot:
I ran a 5K this weekend for the Children's Museum of NH and beat my time from last year by 5+ minutes. 29:47 with a 9:36 pace. Pretty good! I felt good about it, but when I woke up yesterday I couldn't walk. My heel hurt so bad, I almost puked. It got better throughout the day, but I am terrified about the half this weekend. Lisa said that I'm probably heel-striking when I run ie: your heel lands first. This is bad. This video shows the contrast between heel strike and forefoot strike:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XrOgDCZ4GUo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So what does a person like me do about situations like this? I research. A lot. The Internet is the most amazing and awful thing all at once when you are feeling sick or are in pain. Heel/foot pain is one thing to self diagnose, but when people go on WebMD and start seeing words like "cancer" and "life threatening" I think the site turns detrimental and a perfectly sane person can lose their minds because they think they know what is wrong. Side note: I love reading the symptoms listed on there and trying to figure out what kind of disease/disorder someone has..."craving to eat dirt, ice, paper" or "taste words when they are heard." Obviously, I didn't see any of those symptoms or results when I looked up heel pain. What I did find for potential causes:
- Plantar Fasciitis - http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/plantar-fasciitis-directory
- Metatarsalgia - http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/metatarsalgia
- Stress Fracture - http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/stress-fractures-symptoms
- Bursitis - http://firstaid.webmd.com/tc/bursitis-topic-overview
If I was a betting woman (which I am), I would guess that it has something to do with Plantar Fasciitis. Seems the most likely, but I'm not leaving it to chance. I've made an appointment at the Dover Foot Specialty Center just to have a professional check me out. That appointment is next Monday. I'm hoping I can still walk by then...between running the half and then waitressing on Sunday it is anyone's guess how I will be. Wish me luck...on all three!
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