Crafty-Ass Witch

You guys, I got the boot. And not even the fun sassy kind.

See, I hurt my ankle in November. And I thought it had healed up nicely. I took a month off from running, then eased myself back in. Life sometimes prevented me from doing as much running as I wanted, but I was still running fairly frequently. I got up to doing 28 minute jogs. And my ankle kept hurting. My whole foot, really. I”d get back from a run and sit at my desk and my foot would just throb for the rest of the day. I started noticing some swelling in my lower calf. My foot and calf starting hurting independent of any running. I tried going out for 28 minute runs and ran out of gas after about 10 minutes. I couldn”t ignore it any longer. I emailed my doctor and she told me to hie myself to an orthopedist.

Well, it was a 3 week wait for an orthopedist and a 2 day wait for a podiatrist. I went to the podiatrist at the office recommended by my doctor. I got there, I got my foot x-rayed 8 ways from Sunday, the podiatrist came in and poked and prodded every part of my foot in excruciating ways. The good news was that I hadn”t broken my foot like I thought I had. (Foot problems are notoriously common for runners and I constantly assume the worst) The bad news was… I got the boot. For 3 weeks. Unless I”m asleep or showering, I”m in the boot. And then possibly an ankle brace, and then physical therapy and then I can think about running again.

So, farewell, GW Parkway Classic. The fine folks at Pacers (who sold me new shoes I”ve been dying to try and now won”t for several months) have let me drop out and defer to 2011 (though I”ll still have to register when the time comes). I don”t mind as much as last time. I kind of knew it was coming when I couldn”t do more than 10 minute stretches.

Now, the boot. It”s hot. It”s wicked hot. And you have to wear a sock in it, which makes it hotter. (You can do mid-calf or knee socks, but if you do shorter socks, your calf will itch terribly all day, as I found out on Friday) It”s also tall, so you have to find your tall flat shoes to go with it. You might think heels or wedges would work, but all that will do is throw play pokies you terribly, terribly off balance. The only shoe I have that works is a platform flip flop my almost mother in law gave me 2 years ago. And we”re not supposed to wear flip flops in the office (I got the OK. I feel special).

The boot is also designed to rock you forward as you walk, simulating what you”d actually do with your ankle. This makes going downstairs normally well nigh impossible. I mean, you probably could do it, but with my penchant for falling on my face, I should not. Instead I am putting both feet on each riser. This is slow. I hate it. I live in a 3 story townhouse right now and I can”t carry laundry upstairs or go downstairs (easily) to have a snack while watching TV. Going up stairs is difficult, but doable. The boot takes a day or two to get used to. I spent Friday feeling off-balance. I didn”t want to carry anything, not because I am a pretty pretty princess, but because I felt like my hands would be too full (apparently, I”m carrying the boot instead of wearing it in my brainparts). And I have to wonder if these things are similar to shape ups, because my hamstrings are killing me today after spending yesterday cleaning out our bedroom (6 bags for goodwill, 2 bags of garbage and I”ve still got 3 tubs of clothes in the attic. And laundry to be done. Pray for me).

Plus, wearing the boot means that everyone you know automatically must ask you if you are OK and how/why you hurt yourself. This is sweet, but gets old after the 5th coworker that rarely even makes eye contact with you in the hall feels the need to ask about your foot as you”re washing your hands in the bathroom. I know I should be grateful that everyone is concerned, but I don”t like being the center of attention unless it”s on my terms. This is out of my control.

I”m also peeved because I can”t run anymore, and that was really rocking my fitness plan. The doc OK”ed recumbent bikes and ellipticals for cardio (boot firmly on), so I”ll be switching to that, but I”ve gotta go after work now. The exercising during lunch was really working for me. And the doc said I should be fine in my twice weekly pilates, but I still have to keep the boot on, so I think that”ll actually be an awesome challenge.

So, I”m day 4 of 21. Not that I”m counting. It”s going to be a fun three weeks.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 11:28 pm and is filed under couch to 5k, fitness, whining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.