This past Sunday, I ran leg 5 of the Vermont City Marathon Relay. I had a pretty damn good race. I felt really good the entire time, and ran a great overall pace. I actually had to rein myself in a few times when I looked at my Garmin and saw some faster-than-was-probably-wise paces. And when I finished, I felt fired up. Excited. Ready to maybe run some goal races later this year and really see what my postpartum body is capable of. And then after I got home and got showered and started to come down off my high, my left heel started to hurt. A lot.
Since then, it has become apparent that I’ve definitely injured myself. What exactly is wrong is a mystery. I can’t tell if it’s muscular or skeletal. I’ve been massaging and rolling the crap out of my calf in case it’s some kind of muscular thing that started further up the chain, but I don’t want to risk aggravating a potential bone issue by rolling my foot too aggressively.
I’ve been obsessing over what happened. I did a lot of things “wrong” on Sunday. Was it my new shoes, which I’d only worn on one test run prior to race day? Was it standing around for several hours, waiting for my turn to run? Was it failing to cool down and stretch out after the race? Was it because I stayed in my running shoes when normally I’d switch to my Birkenstocks post-race? There’s no way to know, and wondering will only drive me crazy, but I can’t help it.
I’m just so disappointed. After Sunday’s race, I really started to feel like pre-baby me. I ran hard and fast and it felt SO GOOD. I was so excited to start really pushing myself again. And now I’m stuck on the DL.
I suppose I could go to the doctor and get my foot looked at, but honestly, I’ve been down that road before. X-rays are expensive and not always conclusive, and I have neither the time nor money to invest in that. So all I can do now is rest. Which I am not good at. Especially when the weather is so beautiful right now and all I want to do is run. Even walking hurts, which means stroller walks with Vera are out, as are a lot of lower body exercises.
I’m trying very hard not to have a pity party, but it’s hard. The fact that this injury coincides with my first real taste of running fire since before I got pregnant is tough. I’m hoping to stay active as much as I can, with yoga and core work and whatever else doesn’t hurt my foot. And also try not to drown my sorrows in poor food choices, as I am wont to do.
What’s your favorite distraction for when you can’t run?
Darlin' Rae 
Reading this post, I feel for you so hard. I’ve been struggling with some issues of my own after a really gratifying race (I won my age group in a 5k!). Granted, my issues are breathing/upper respiratory related, but I’m on the DL and frustrated as heck nonetheless when I had to miss a bucket list race (the Soldier Field 10 Miler!).
When I can’t run, I do yoga, for sure, and also try to bust out my bike either on the road or at the gym- that might work for you, too, since heels aren’t too heavily involved in biking.
I also try to read for fun (as opposed to the reading I do for work/review) and watch shows that are more involved than my usual fair of Teen Mom and Housewives ;0)
Good luck nursing that injury and keeping from getting too frustrated in the meantime!
You won your AG?! That’s flipping sweet! And I can totally relate to how frustrating it must have been to miss your goal race.
I hope you’re able to find some relief for your respiratory stuff soon; I feel like you’ve been sick forever!