Pass the True Grit, Please
Ah, the irony.
The girl who used to say that she would only run if she was being chased takes up running for her health (though I won't consider myself a "runner" until I actually like it) only to face injury after injury.
Yes, I'm injured again. With a race coming up in January, too. (A non-refundable, non-transferable race, mind you!) This time it's plantar fasciitis. Honestly, I could have gotten this without running. My mom has had it, never having broken into a light jog around the block. But it is common enough with runners, so who knows. In layman's terms, I have an inflamed tendon that causes me agonizing pain when I walk. (Oddly enough, it barely bothers me when I run.)
Last time a major injury sidelined me from running I dealt with some severe anxiety and depression over it all. (That was back while I was training for the Ragnar.) However, this injury has already taken its toll on my sanity to a whole new level. Probably because it affects my regular life and not just my exercise.
The first issue is the shoe problem. It's only bearable walking around in my running shoes with orthotic inserts. No dress shoes, no flip flops, and worst of all, walking barefoot makes me howl in pain. I love being barefoot so this is seriously cramping my style. (It's only a minor thing to have to go to church in my running shoes compared to that.) The second problem with this that may just send me to the loony bin is the night splint. Perhaps you already know what this unassuming torture device looks like, but if not, here you go:
Mine looks exactly like that (except that I don't wear it with socks and my legs aren't so hairy-- usually). I did a little research among the other plantar fasciitis sufferers at beginnertriathlete.com in the forums and at least one guy had had fantastic results with his (better after only two weeks) while others found it impossible to sleep with because they were stomach sleepers. I'm not a stomach sleeper so I hoped maybe I could use this split and be better in two weeks too. In general I don't do well with anything slightly uncomfortable so I tried to mentally prepare myself for at least one night of getting used to something that felt weird. I figured with my gung-ho, get-healed-quickly attitude, I would be fine though.
Riiiiight. I had no sooner strapped my foot into this baby and flopped down on my bed before I realized that I was in real trouble. It is not slightly irritating. The splint falls in the big leagues of serious discomfort. It's heavy and restricting and it forces your foot to stay in this wholly unnatural position. All this would be hard enough, but then the first night came the proof that this was going to truly take all my endurance-- a panic attack from being claustrophobic.
Seriously, who gets claustrophobic just because she can't move a foot?
Nuts. That's what I am. Or at least I will be for sure by the time I'm through with this treatment. If not from panic attacks, from lack of sleep. I only lasted two hours before I ripped it off the first night but I've survived with it on just a little bit longer each night since. The worst part is that I can't seem to stay asleep for longer than short stretches of time with it on, no matter how tired I am.
It's like being nine months pregnant again. Only I don't have a due date. Fingers crossed I feel better in two weeks. I don't think I can take six months of this!
The girl who used to say that she would only run if she was being chased takes up running for her health (though I won't consider myself a "runner" until I actually like it) only to face injury after injury.
Yes, I'm injured again. With a race coming up in January, too. (A non-refundable, non-transferable race, mind you!) This time it's plantar fasciitis. Honestly, I could have gotten this without running. My mom has had it, never having broken into a light jog around the block. But it is common enough with runners, so who knows. In layman's terms, I have an inflamed tendon that causes me agonizing pain when I walk. (Oddly enough, it barely bothers me when I run.)
Last time a major injury sidelined me from running I dealt with some severe anxiety and depression over it all. (That was back while I was training for the Ragnar.) However, this injury has already taken its toll on my sanity to a whole new level. Probably because it affects my regular life and not just my exercise.
The first issue is the shoe problem. It's only bearable walking around in my running shoes with orthotic inserts. No dress shoes, no flip flops, and worst of all, walking barefoot makes me howl in pain. I love being barefoot so this is seriously cramping my style. (It's only a minor thing to have to go to church in my running shoes compared to that.) The second problem with this that may just send me to the loony bin is the night splint. Perhaps you already know what this unassuming torture device looks like, but if not, here you go:
Riiiiight. I had no sooner strapped my foot into this baby and flopped down on my bed before I realized that I was in real trouble. It is not slightly irritating. The splint falls in the big leagues of serious discomfort. It's heavy and restricting and it forces your foot to stay in this wholly unnatural position. All this would be hard enough, but then the first night came the proof that this was going to truly take all my endurance-- a panic attack from being claustrophobic.
Seriously, who gets claustrophobic just because she can't move a foot?
Nuts. That's what I am. Or at least I will be for sure by the time I'm through with this treatment. If not from panic attacks, from lack of sleep. I only lasted two hours before I ripped it off the first night but I've survived with it on just a little bit longer each night since. The worst part is that I can't seem to stay asleep for longer than short stretches of time with it on, no matter how tired I am.
It's like being nine months pregnant again. Only I don't have a due date. Fingers crossed I feel better in two weeks. I don't think I can take six months of this!
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