Week 18: Much better than week 17

Good news! I saw the very nice Orthopedist (Dr. Kwong) last Friday and got a clean bill of health to keep running! My feet felt back to normal by Thursday but I decided to keep my appointment to get things checked out anyway. I got some X-rays done of my feet, and Dr. Kwong did all kinds of wiggling and tapping of my feet and ankles- it was actually pretty cool.

I learned that:

1. I have "abnormally long" first metatarsal bones. I couldn't really tell that from the X-rays, but Dr. Kwong could. I'm not sure what to think about that. Apparently if I end up having pain at the sesamoids (where metatarsal bone connect to the toe bone,) this can be the reason. So far so good as I've never had pain there.
2. The big toe on my right foot is less flexible than the big toe on my left foot. Again, no idea why this is.

None of these things seem to be contributing factors to the arch pain I was having last week, but they are interesting none-the-less. I have always had a weird fascination with X-rays. Something about seeing your insides.

So Dr. Kwong thought that my arch pain was probably caused by the uneven surface we'd been running on last Sunday, and said I could have stepped funny, into a hole or something and not really even realized straining my foot. So he said just to be aware and if I had any pain at all, to stop, but that I should be fine to keep up with my training, which was great news!

So Sunday we were on a "down week" which means we only ran about 12 miles. Can you believe I just typed that we only ran 12 miles? 4 months ago 12 miles seemed like an impossible task. The run went great- no problems with my feet at all!

Next Sunday is our big 20 miler- the last big run before the marathon! So please say a prayer or two Sunday morning as you're beginning your day- I'll probably be somewhere around mile 14 and in need of a little divine intervention!