Forced to stop running

I have a lot to catch you up on with respect to my running. For starters I recently ran the Snake River Half Marathon (and met my secret goal), I hit another personal distance record of 18 miles, and I’ve booked tickets for a trip back to my home province which includes a half-marathon with friends.

But all of that will have to wait just a bit longer. My heart is just not in it right now and I’m currently in the middle of my own pity party that, with luck, will be almost over by the time I publish this post.

The reason for my pity party?

I’m injured.

Sigh.

It’s nothing major in the traditional sense of the word but as a runner any injury that gets in the way of training (or running period) is going to become a big deal. I have been forced to stop running and that, in a nutshell, sucks.

Ever since my 18-miler on Sunday my left foot has been killing me. It starts off feeling OK but the longer I stand and walk on it the more it hurts. Specifically, the pain is along the outside of my foot radiating into the middle of my arch. I’ve been icing, ball rolling, and using a TENS machine to help heal it but its difficult to effectively rest my foot with two children to run after.

At least I’m doing some form of running, right?

I’m bummed to say the least but I’m trying my best to remain positive. I’m still just a little under 2 months away from the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 5 so there is no need to throw in the towel. The important thing is to let my foot rest because that is the only way it is going to get better.

I don’t know for sure what caused it (and no, I haven’t gone to the doctor yet) but I have a few ideas:

1. New shoes. I was gifted a pair of Newtons by my friend Krista after the half-marathon. I have never ran in them before and decided to wear them on a 3.5 mile mid-week run. My running form completely changed and I was basically running on my toes. I felt fine during the run, and super speedy, but I’m starting to think the change in shoe and form affected me more than I realized.

2. Uneven terrain. Spring is definitely showing itself here but since I run both on pavement and dirt there is still snow and ice to contend with, especially when you are running 18 miles. I ran on some choppy, soupy, uneven snow-covered dirt and it more likely than not contributed to my current foot woes.

I have been following my training plan exactly so I doubt it is from increasing my mileage too fast, and my overall pace hasn’t changed drastically so I don’t think it has anything to do with that.

I’m not ruling out a trip to the doctor but I am putting it off for at least a week to see if rest and no running will help.

My biggest worry about not running is that I will lose the fitness I have built-up so far. In an effort to keep myself in cardiovascular shape I have set my bike back up in the trainer and will focus on low impact bike workouts for this week. I did my first last night and forgot how much that seat can hurt.

While not running for a week seems like the end of the world in my runners-mind I know it beats not making it to the starting line on May 5.

Pity party over.

Well, almost.