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Monday, June 25, 2012

A Pain in the... Foot?


Oh Monday. I can’t really say that I missed you. I also can’t really say that I wish this past weekend never ended. It wasn't one of my favorites.

From the Beach
I now know that Ocean City is not one of my East Coast preferences when it comes to getaways. In short, I didn't love it; not really up my alley. We’ll leave it at that.

However, this weekend did include a few firsts for me:

Wawa; the ultimate gas station.



An Orange Crush
Straight up crushed oranges and vodka. Fresher than fresh. Yum.




I think Andrew is getting tired of me taking pics of myself in public places. Long hair.


Afgan Kabob
I got lamb, Andrew got chicken & beef. Both were delish.

In other news, I’m becoming a little worried about my foot. I’ve made a few brief mentions of the plantar fasciitis in my right heel that’s been lingering since early winter. It doesn’t in any way prohibit me from running yet, but it’s definitely there. I would probably say, as of late, it’s been getting a bit worse.

I’ve heard conflicting advice on how to treat it. Aside from the obvious couple months of rest that I’m not going to partake in, there’s your typical icing/stretching/ball massaging treatment that I have kind of been defaulting to. Other runners have then told me that stretching is actually the worst thing I can be doing for it, and that they simply converted over to minimalist footwear and the pain disappeared. Minimalist footwear/running in general is supposed to help strengthen your arches, and seeing that weak arches are essentially the culprit in plantar fasciitis, I guess that kind of makes sense…


My poor feet.
 My occupational therapist friend & roommate even referred me to a reflexologist. I don’t even know what that means, but it kind of sounds like a robot. Regardless I should probably look into it.

Why am I rambling on about this? If you’re reading this, and have any input, ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear. I can’t say I’m concerned to the point that I can’t sleep at night, but I guess just knowing that training for New York starts here in a couple weeks, I would love to take some preventive measures.

My short term solution: using my Groupon deal to go get a pedicure. Cheers!

5 comments:

  1. Okay, first of all, WaWa *is* the greatest gas station, not least of which because of the "WaWa Hoagie" which YOU ORDER FROM THE GAS PUMP on a TOUCHSCREEN. The first time I saw that, I was totally like, "We are living in the future, there is no need to invent anything more ever."

    Second of all, plantar fasciitis is the bane of my existance, I have battled it for YEARS. Here's what I can tell you helped me:
    1. If you have morning pain, sleep in a p.f. boot. I can provide a link to the most superior of all models of p.f. boots, as I've tried them all (mostly) and they are not created equal.
    2. Ice after runs - the bottoms of your feet. Ice 'em.
    3. The natural running shoe + technique is a good tip. Heel-striking is very bad for p.f.
    4. If you can, make an appointment with a podiatrist who can take computer scans of your feet as you walk and then get you custom shoe inserts (not to run in, but to wear in your daily life shoes). It's pricey (a few hundred dollars) but insurance might cover it if you get a diagnosis of p.f. and IT TOTALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. They really, really help.
    4. And finally, while it is not popular at all, resting is the only thing that will heal an upset plantar fasciia. Even swapping in some cross-training for a few of your weekly runs would help. Basically you are creating tears in your fasciia and that thing CAN tear completely apart. You can also knock scar tissue loose which causes all kinds of problems, let me tell you what. (Not fun advice, I know!)

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    1. Thanks so much for the advice!! That is great to know, seriously. I will def look into finding a podiatrist in the area. :)

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  2. Hi Kait!! I battled planter faciitis for my whole college volleyball career! While in Colorado, I also pulled my calf muscle and went to get ART (Active Release) done. While there they said the tendons in my feet were so tight from years of jumping and running and it was causing planter faciitis and my eventual calf pull. I went to 3 sessions of ART and I've never had it sense. I am running more than ever, and I never have pain! I know it sounds unbelievable, I even have a hard time believing it myself sometimes.

    ART is a form of deep tissue massage, but with added touches. I can't even begin to explain it. Check out this website: http://www.activerelease.com/ Also, few people are certified in it, so look on there for somewhere near you. It's not that expensive....roughly the same price as getting a massage.

    Hope this helps!

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    1. AWESOME! thanks for the info., I'll def look into that as well. Glad to hear it worked for you!

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  3. Oh, no! So sorry to hear about your foot-- injuries are worst. It's so hard to know when to run through it, and when to really step back and let it recover. Hope you get it taken care of and start sleeping better. Thanks for entering my giveaway- glad I could connect with you!

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