Since the Palace Half, I’ve been feeling this weird mix of post-race blues and euphoria. I was so happy that I was able to finish the race, but there was a part of me that felt like I could have gone harder and done better if I had only been in the right coral. And not gotten the flu. Not two days after the race I was already in “what’s next” mode, searching for another race to run. I wanted another goal to work towards. For months I worked on running farther, but now I want to run faster. I want a 25-minute 5K. Not even sub-25, just 25-something. I let my running fitness slide after my first half, and I was determined not to let this happen this time around. I continued to do a weekly long run of 6-8 miles and started doing speed work on the treadmill. My goal was to run a local 5K near my parents’ house on April 27th, as well as the Hunger Walk 5K on Memorial Day. Everything was going to plan, until I noticed some pain on the top of my foot during my long run on the treadmill on April 2. I chalked it up to my shoes getting old and maybe too tight, but the pain was enough for me to stop after 6 miles instead of going for 8. Then next day I took a day off from running, hoping whatever was wrong with my foot would heal. It didn’t. But I continued to walk and run like nothing was wrong. I had a cholesterol test scheduled for April 10, so I mentioned my foot pain to my doctor then. I told him it was likely caused by kicking the edge of the desk with the back of my foot while attempting to do a plank in a small area, even though hitting the back of my foot didn’t explain why the top of my foot hurt. He sent me for an X-ray just to be safe, and then I walked home 3 miles because I am a Fitbit step addict who doesn’t know how to rest. I kept racking my brain trying to remember what could have caused my injury. It felt like I had dropped something heavy on my foot. And then it hit me.
The plaster ceiling rose.
I pulled up my notes from our ongoing bedroom renovation and the dates confirmed it. We had ordered a giant plaster ceiling rose to hang in the guest room, but since we are only focusing on the master bedroom renovation now, we decided to move the rose onto the balcony to store it for a while. There’s a big step up onto the balcony, so while I was helping to move the rose, I steadied it on my foot, somehow forgetting the thing weighs over 100 lbs. That was on April 1, which explains why I first noticed the pain on April 2. I explained to my doctor what happened and he told me it was likely a soft tissue injury then, since the X-ray showed no stress fracture. And then he told me to rest. He didn’t give me an exact time frame, but I needed to stop running so my foot could properly heal. I was devastated. Happy that my foot wasn’t broken, but upset that a split second stupid decision could have such a debilitating effect.
It was hard not doing something that has become such a core element of my daily life. I kept telling myself that maybe I could still do the April 5K, despite the fact that I haven’t run in over two weeks and should absolutely not go for a PR with a sore foot. I suddenly found myself with more free time now that I wasn’t running, which I used to go shopping and buy more running shoes. I couldn’t wait to get back at it. I decided Thursday, April 25th would be the day I got back out there. And depending on how that run went, I might still register for the 5K.
And then at 3am on Thursday I got the stomach flu. Or maybe it was food poisoning. Or maybe it was my body saying enough is enough to all the candy and junk food I’ve been consuming since I got to the US over a week ago. Whatever it was, it was a wake-up call that I really needed to rest. I’m feeling much better today, but I’m still in no condition to run a race tomorrow. There will always be other races, but we only get one body, so right now my health needs to be the priority.
Reneedezvous 