My Foot Hurts. I HATE Hills!

The title to this post is an inside joke that only a couple people will get, but unfortunately both are true. In fact, as I’ve mentioned previously, my right foot has been hurting for a while now, so I finally had to do something about it in the form of taking a few days off.

The problem started two weeks ago while I was at the beach. My traditional Achilles problems seemed to spread to the outside of my foot, and I wondered what was going on. I figured it was nothing initially, but when it didn’t go away after a few days I began to get more concerned. It wasn’t a bad pain, more annoying than anything else, and it would also come and go, being pretty noticeable some days and not so much others. For example, I didn’t feel it at all during what was a fairly hard 16 mile long run on the train bed this past Sunday but felt it throughout the easy run the next afternoon. In fact, that was the run that did me in. We were messing around at the end and I took off sprinting for a few strides and really felt it bad. For the first time it went from a minor annoyance to an actual pain. That’s when I decided something had to be done.

I took Tuesday off and went to see Dr. Gilbert. Based on a little research I did, I suspected my cuboid bone was out of place, and he confirmed that with an exam. He manipulated it and worked on the rest of my foot and ankle in addition to checking everything else over. The good news is, with the exception of my foot, I tested out really well. One of the first times I’ve been to him that I haven’t had weaknesses around my hips, which is a sign that what I’m doing right now is working. He also had some ideas on my Achilles problems that might help get that even better under control.

Anyway, my foot has been gradually improving since the adjustment, but it’s still not totally pain free. I won’t be running today and probably not tomorrow either but I’m hopeful I’ll be back at it over the weekend. If so, I won’t have lost any fitness and the rest probably will have been a good thing in terms of the big picture. I probably needed a little time for my body to catch up to all the training I’ve done since starting back just 10 weeks ago (really only 7). A lot of work and progress has been made in that short period of time without any breaks in the process.

My main concern at this point is what caused this. I have a couple theories, also based on the research I did, and I hope I’m right. I remember almost spraining that ankle on one of my first runs at the beach. I stepped off the edge of the road and really rolled it (that ankle is week anyway). Such events are apparently often what throws the cuboid bone out of place and starts the problem. Additionally, I did a lot of walking in the sand, and that can be another cause. If one or both of those are the reason, then I’ll be fine once the irritation settles down. If not, then I have bigger problems, which with my history wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Here’s hoping for the best!