Midweek Mashup
What’s up, Wednesday friends? Happy first day of fall! My week is…. going along. I’ve been faithfully doing the Brad Kearns stretches for plantar fasciitis. I’m an old Brad Kearns fan- I used to listen to his podcast but stopped because he talked too much about his keto diet and intermittent fasting. I know that works for him, but I’m just not into it. I did watch two of his other videos, this one about correct running technique, and this one on running technique drills- both are excellent. Then before my run this morning I did a Strength for Runners class (Matt Wilpers on the Peloton app) and I did Brad’s drills. To be honest, I already do these drills, but I haven’t done them consistently in a while, and it was nice to see them demonstrated again in his video. Then I started my run. I don’t know if it was the glute activation, or the drills, or the combination of both, but this run felt GREAT. I could really feel my glutes working, my cadence was high… everything was perfect except for one tiny, tiny spot on my foot. And that one-inch area was enough to ruin the whole thing. After two miles I could tell that I needed to stop. My foot was really hurting, so I went home and immediately called the doctor. The conversation went something like this: “Alright Buster, listen up. I’ve been dealing with this foot issue for over a year and want it fixed NOW. If you can’t fix it then I want an MRI, pronto.” Okay, that was a slight embellishment. I actually talked to the receptionist and asked for an MRI- she told me I had to see the doctor first. Fine. I made an appointment for Thursday after work, but I’m done putzing around. I want an MRI to see if there’s something other than plantar fasciitis going on, so I can fix it. And if it is just plantar fasciitis, I’ll keep with my current plan, which is cobbling together a treatment using random bits of information from the internet. What else can I do? One thing I’ve learned is that everyone has a different “miracle cure” for PF, and something different works for each person. Okay, I know. You’re thinking, “Jenny, maybe it’s time to find a nice water aerobics class.” I’ll admit I’ve had a pretty crummy year. The foot thing has been ongoing. Then there was the hip issue, and after that the mysterious knee pain. (Interestingly, both my hips and knees feel perfect now- at least only one thing seems to hurt at any one time.) One of my mottos is “Never, ever give up.” I know there’s a solution to all of this. A long time ago I read somewhere: When you’re injured, remember you have a 100% success rate with this. I’ve come back from every single injury in the past, and I’ve had some tough ones. I can do this, too. There was some of this… While I “ran” in little circles around the deep end of my pool, I listened to the great Courtney Dauwalter, who just won the 106 mile UTMB, on Ali’s podcast. I like how she talked about breaking that race up into little sections, and just focusing on completing each section as efficiently as she could. It also came up, in passing, that she DNF’d the first 100 mile race she ever attempted. Good thing she tried again! See? NEVER GIVE UP! Are you excited for the first day of fall, or sad that summer is ending? – If you’re sad, come down to Florida for a while- we’ve got plenty of summer left here!