Sunday, September 9, 2012

Do nothing foolish

After posting yesterday, my hamstring felt increasingly worse and the tightening in my foot (plantar fascia) got worse.  Before the concert and between acts, I used a pillar to stretch it.  The show was so awesome that I could not resist being on my feet and I bet that did not help any.  I decided to sleep with my Strassburg sock on, a device that keeps the calf and foot stretched and typically helps with plantar fasciitis.  Around 5:15am, I awoke to a shooting pain where the arch and heel join; I took of the sock and tried rubbing it but the pain did not go away.  I contemplated bailing on the race but knew Billy and another running friend, Rachel, were going to be there and I love doing races where I can see them.   I decided to make the drive and try for at least a half marathon; normally, taping my arch helps with PF so I did that routine but felt no relief.  Walking around I knew I was not 100% but I started the race hoping things would change.

The course was hillier than I anticipated.  It started in Dove Canyon and that horse trail connected to a trail in Casper Wilderness Park.  I love trails so much that I kept trying to convince myself I could do it but by mile 2, I knew I'd be lucky to do 13 miles.  Around the turnaround at mile 3.25, the pain got worse and I decided to DO NOTHING FOOLISH (DNF) since I was not wise enough to "do nothing stupid" (DNS).  The course was an out/back and the pain got worse before I completed the 6.5 mile route.  I told Billy I was dropping and that I would run errands and come back to hangout.  The walk down the hill from the start/finish killed and that intense pain got worse as I drove around taking care of errands; I realized I had to come home and start icing.



I think that too much stretching may have torn the PF more (apparently PF is microtear) so I need to stay off of my foot so that it can heal; I'm so happy I work from home instead of being on my feet.  I remember when I had PF before it was intense pain when walking but cannot recall how it felt when sitting; so, I do not know if this is better or worse than that bout with PF.  I scheduled a visit with my chiro/ART guru, Dr. Scott Neubauer, for tomorrow and I'm hoping he can help resolve this hamstring/PF issue.  It's crazy that the hamstring issue was caused by overstretching a tight hammy and today's intense pain was probably caused by overstretching my foot.  Apparently, too much of a good thing results in a bad thing.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry about your pain. But I'm glad you didn't make it worse by pushing through the race. I was once told that DNF meant "Did nothing fatal," and I really liked that (especially since I was taking a DNF at the time so hard). One thing that purely road runners don't really understand about long distance trail runners is the DNF. It happens. We have to do it sometimes. To do so, is smart (though difficult it is!) I hope your doctor's appointment goes well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry to read about your foot injury and hope you are better already. It is so irritating to drop out of a race. I love your DNF and DNS explanations! :) Rest well and soon you'll be back to 100%.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ha ha ha! Love your definition of DNS and DNF!

    Hope your foot is feeling better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is not an easy course. Good call on dropping out. I hope you have a speedy recovery!

    ReplyDelete