A hard lesson

I felt great after my 45 mile, hilly Gorge weekend, with the Backyard Half (14 miles) on Saturday and the Beacon Rock 50k on Sunday.  I was even able to pull off a 10 minute pace on Tuesday at the hilly second race (5.2 miles) in the Portland Trail Series.  My uphill ability was lacking, but basically, all systems were a go.  I was on a week's staycation and riding high from my weekend.

But then I made a really, really stupid, dumb, dumb mistake.  I've been going to the the same LMT for 11 years.  She's part of the chiropractic clinic I visit and she's great.  But I thought I'd save a few bucks and had bought a massage package through one of those daily deal offers you may be familiar with.  

I went to my first visit on Wednesday.  I mentioned to the guy that I had experienced nerve pain in my right foot in the past.  He examined my foot, told me my tarsal was stuck and proceeded to do some fairly aggressive manipulations on my foot.  Stupid, dumb, dumb me let him.  I should have known better.  I should have left right then and there.  The rest of the massage was okay.  Definitely not as good as my regular LMT, but if not for the foot manipulation, I would have pronounced it an okay massage.

The next morning I went out for my usual 7 miles and felt fine.  I drove up to Olympia to visit Sharon and her new cutie pie son.  We spent the day walking all over the place.  I felt fine.  Friday morning I woke up early, with the sense that my right foot was aching.  As I woke up fully I realized that I had terrible pain all along my foot, ankle and shin.  I didn't panic...yet.  It was a rest and recovery week and wasn't planning huge miles anyway.  Since it took a few days for the pain to manifest, I figured that it was just like DOMS and would subside within a few days.  I don't normally run on Friday's anyway and then the weather was terrible on Saturday, so I didn't bother.  Sunday, I had a planned Gorge run with Desiree.  I felt better Sunday morning and we had a great run - going from Multnomah Falls to Oneonta Gorge - up to Franklin Ridge, over to Devil's Rest, back around down Wahkeena to Multnomah Falls.  My foot and ankle felt pretty good the whole run, and I only felt some shin pain as we descended from Devil's Rest and down Wahkeena.

But later that evening I started to feel a pain spike. Monday was a rest day, with pain not too bad but definitely there.  Took Tuesday off from running and went in for a massage with my regular LMT.  Confessed the whole story.  She was great about working around my foot and ankle.  I felt wonderful after the massage, but later that evening the good feelings started to wear off and I could feel some stress and pain around my ankle.  Next morning, I just needed to run - not a good idea - but I had too.  I only went five miles and it didn't hurt during the run, but the pain spike was swift and strong.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get in to see my chiropractor until today.  This is what I looked like after my appointment:

Yesterday I was pretty much in agony.  Today was better.  Fortunately my chiropractor is optimistic.  I can do some cross-training but I'll wait until the nervy pain settles down.  I am getting acupuncture for the pain. 

It's too early to say what this means for the rest of my summer racing.  I don't want to think about that just yet and am taking it day by day.  But I've learned my lesson.  Don't skimp when it comes to your health.  It's not worth it. Stick with the tried and true.  Don't make the same mistake I did.  And, oh yeah, I did file a complaint with the state licensing board.