Weekly Roundup

Even though it has only been 6 days, it feels like its been ages. Ages since I've run, ages since I've posted, and ages since I've felt "normal". As indicated in my last post, the whole running thing wasn't going so well. I had some plantar fascitis issues, which prompted me to see a doctor about it. Since Rebecca is already going to a doctor that seems to be fixing her knee pain, I figured I'd try to the same one. And that brings me to where I felt off from my last post.

A brief visit to the doctor and a few x-rays later, we discovered that my legs are slightly different in length and that my hips are out of alignment because of the length difference. Basically, with each step I take, due to my shorter right leg, my hips are rotating in and causing a great amount of pressure on my right leg, trying to overcompensate for the length difference. Long story short, long distance running has pushed my body past the point where the muscles and bones absorbing the extra shock can't handle it, translating into knee pain (last year) and plantar fascitis (this year).

The plan from here on out consists of physical therapy to further strengthen the muscles, heel lifts in my shoes to give my legs more stability for moving around, and orthotics in a few weeks after I get my foot scanned for the fit, which will allow me to start running again.

Though I've been running hard for more than 15 years, every time I've gone through physical therapy (this would be #5 in my esteemed history of athletics), I learn something new.

So stay tuned, as I hopefully recover in time for my 2nd assault on the National Marathon. At least the doctors think I should be good to go by then (albeit a little undertrained)...that's reassuring at least that they think I will be recovered enough to run by then though.