Monday, January 11, 2010

Plantar fasciitis - oww! New Challenge. Elvis in Vegas?

Well, I did great on Friday at the gym, and then I had a 12 hour night shift and my hips let me know how well I ran for 3 1/2 miles earlier that day. I was limping the whole night. I made it through the night (sounds like a Madonna song LOL) and slept for a little bit. The dog woke me up around 12 (thanks for the 2 1/2 of sleep Ginger). So I got up to pee and landed on the floor. My left heel *^%$# killed me. I always had a mild case of PF that came and went even before running - 12 hour night shifts will do that to you. I never experience pain in my heel like that. I had to do the tippy toe dance to the bathroom. I had another 12 hour night shift that night and it felt like I had stepped on a rock barefoot the rest of the night.

I made it back to the gym on Sunday and "just" did an hour on the Arc Trainer elliptical and 2 miles on the bike. They close at 6 on Sundays.

So my new self-challenge is to lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks. I'm "only" working 2 days a week (and 1 vacation day) for the next 3-4 weeks until my basement is finished. I am hoping to rock the gym during this time. Hopefully, the contractors won't mind me leaving the house for a while. I lost the few pounds that I gained over the holidays and hope to keep on losing it. My husband only has to think about skipping a meal and he drops 5 pounds - so not fair.

The Vegas trip will probably be May 17th - getting excited. My sister should still be out on maternity leave then so I can "borrow" my mother. Hubby has to check and see if that week is available in work and we are set to book the trip.

I wanted to renew our wedding vows (19 years in April) and thought it would be fun with Elvis. Well the web site is so cheesy, I think I'll hold off on that for now. :)

3 comments:

  1. My wife had plantar fasciitis for three years so we learned a lot about it. We even started a website for people with it. Anyway, if you wear a night splint to bed at night, you won't have that OMG pain in the morning. There's also a foot stretch that was developed specifically to heal plantar fasciitis. It was published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Anyway, you can find write ups of three different night splints and a bunch of other stuff for PF plus that PF stretch at http://plantarfasciitisinserts.com. Hey, there's even a blog and forum. Good luck!

    Bob & Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Bob, there are a lot of different stretches that can help relieve some of the pain caused by Plantar Fasciitis, here is another page you can take a look at for tips - www.kurufootwear.com/plantarfasciitis

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Getting ready for my very first run!

After I renigged on my promise to run the Broad Street 10 miler with my friend Chrissy D - I decided to make it up to her by running the Ben Franklin Bridge 10k. Did you read below where I NEVER ran before? She told me that if I cancelled on her again, she would drag me across the bridge by my hair. Okaay then.

I was in shape until a work injury side-lined me (a patient decided to herniate two discs in my neck and tear my shoulder in two places - thanks!) So kiss that bikini goodbye. Pain and inactivity followed. I found myself unable to sleep and in front of the pantry at 3am - everything screaming "eat me!" My day consisted of Percocet, Valium, Red Bull. Percocet for the pain, Valium for the muscle spasms, Red Bull so I could pretend to play mommy for my children. So, physical therapy, epidurals, steroid injections and 40 pounds later, I decided that getting ready for this run was going to help me get back into shape. (I decided against 3 surgeries at this time.)

I had already conquered the ellipticals at the gym. I could do them for an hour on level 6 and barely break a sweat. Surely I could run a measely 6.2 miles. I moved on to the treadmill. I couldn't even run .25 miles continuously. This was a lot harder than it looked.

The Ben Franklin Bridge is almost 3 miles back and forth and it went up, up, up!! and then down. The first time I crossed it (walking, mind you) on the pedestrian cross-walk, my calves were cursing me in three languages. What did I sign up for - who was I kidding?

I downloaded inspiring, fast beat music to keep me pumped up and ready (Britney, Buck Cherry's Crazy Bitch (yep that's me), Pink, PCD, etc.) I decided that I would go for distance and not speed. I discovered that I had exercise-induced asthma when I pushed a little too far (anything at that time was too far). Soon I was able to run a mile, then 2 - at once. I continued to "do" the bridge and even took my kids a couple of times. I had to find a better way to keep my iphone close. They didn't make an arm band that I liked so I found a "runner's belt" online and soon had it. I tried it out one day in the park. My 11 year old was with me and started laughing when I put my iphone in it. "Seriously mom, a fanny pack?" It is not a fanny pack, it is a belt. It stays still, doesn't ride up and I can put my keys in it too. So there!

The weight was slowly coming off. I decided to take a drastic measure - no alcohol at all for the month before the race (oh no, what was I thinking.) My goal was 20 pounds by race day. I continued to plod along on the treadmill. I was up to 5k with almost no problems. However, when I tried to run outside, my body rebelled. The park trail was 1.3 miles - however, it was not flat (but hey - either was the bridge). I was a wheezing, sweaty mess .4 miles into the "run." I was running faster than I was used to on the treadmill. (GPS is a wonderful thing - an app I downloaded on my iphone let me know my distance, speed, and even mapped my route - love the gadgets!)

Strep throat struck my son (11) and he generously shared it with me two weeks before the race. I bought new sneakers (Asics Nimbus Gel 11) and my shins and calves let me know it was not a good idea to change things two weeks before the run. So I went back to my Nike Lunar Glides and made everybody happy. My 16 year old decided he would like to try on the Swine Flu one week before the run. My throat was still bothering me from last week and my chest was tight. I was having some serious doubts if I would be able to finish this race. Not to mention Lysol toxicity from degerming the whole house.

I completed 5.5 miles on the treadmill on my birthday, 6 days before the Sunday race, and for the first time I thought I might be able to do it. It rained for the next two days, so I didn't run the bridge (think shuffle up and run down). I worked Friday night and had off on Halloween. Was I ready? I made my goal of losing 20 pounds two days before the run - yeah me! (20 more to go!)
P.S. Read posts bottom up :)

Ben Franklin Bridge

Ben Franklin Bridge

Kids on the Bridge

Kids on the Bridge