Rolling the dice...

Well, I've been debating actually writing this update, but since I have nothing to really lose - I'll shoot it up here for the world to see.  I have an Iron-distance race in 9 days and I've gone to see an orthopedic foot and ankle doctor 2 times in the last 3 weeks.  Don't worry nothing's broken (I was really worried initially) and I'll tell the story in a bit.

Let's push it back to about 2 weeks ago on Sunday, I was cruising along on a 22 mile run and was running 2x11mile loops from our house on this secluded bike path.  I finished the first 11 mile loop solo and went back to the house to refill water bottles, pick up nutrition, etc and Kim came along with her mountain bike as she wanted to help support and be my "water woman".  The way she tells this story, she could tell a difference in my gait the minute we left the house and could tell I was crabby.  In my mind, this was the LAST run I had to do before taper and I just had to gut thru it, right?  

About 18 miles in, the pain in my right foot felt like someone was stabbing a knife through it and I stopped.  I thought it was my shoes were laced too tightly or something stupid like that, but turns out I was limp-running for a few miles.  Regardless, good thing Kim was there on the mtn bike, because she went home and got the car and picked me up. 

 

The next day I called the doc, got the x-rays you see above and below.  He confirmed nothing was broken, no stress fractures or anything.  (which is great!)  The official diagnosis is that I have capsulitis of the 3rd metatarsal.  Described to me as; all joints have sacks of fluid around them as lubrication, where your toes connect to your feet, there are little capsules of fluid and that particular one is inflamed.  He prescribed an orthodic to off-load some of the pressure to that joint, some medicine to reduce the inflammation and speed up healing and also to rest, not run for a week, and ice.  

I've been doing all of the above and also wearing sneakers around the house for a little extra support.  After a week the pain drastically reduced and I was able to walk without much pain or limping, but I'm a little leery and taking a huge gamble come race day.  I've not run since then and been aqua-jogging to keep the hip flexors engaged and to maintain fitness.  Right now the pain is like a 1-2 our of 10 whenever I go down stairs or toe-off on that foot.

I know what my contingency plan is during the race and I'm gonna try to get thru the whole thing in one piece, but you can never be too sure.  I'm pretty sure I can get thru 13 miles, but the last loop of an IM is hard enough in itself with your body and feet at 100%, so we'll see what happens come next Sunday.  Either way, I'll be out there "rolling the dice" on the race course and hoping everything holds up! You can't stop this squirrelly kid that fast :o)  The Athlete Guide is out, I've done all the training, I know where my fitness is and I really just want the opportunity to prove to myself that I can properly execute a race like I know I'm supposed to! (meaning - NOT blowing up on the run...) Next weekend will be interesting, stay tuned - it'll be quite the show either way.  Cheers.