Oh, My Achy-Breaky Heel...

If I say,"Pain in the heel," would you know what I'm talking about?

This past week gave me all kinds of High-Alert signs that something wasn't right with my right heel. But, let's rewind....

Monday was Memorial Day. We had ventured almost 4.5 hours down the road to my husband's hometown. He was the key note speaker for the Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery there. After a long and difficult 15-miler on Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised to feel like a new person Sunday morning as we jumped in the car and hit the road.

In keeping with my #nevermissaMonday routine, I brought along my running gear to do a short run early Monday before heading to the cemetery. Much to my surprise, the husband had brought his running gear along as well! The two of us took off, in the hopes of running a couple miles, depending on how my heel was feeling (it had been feeling a little achy the past couple weeks...nothing painful, but definitely "off," so I had been trying to be careful and cautious). We wound up running about five miles, all the while feeling great.

Memorial Day miles with the husband...and a bonus plank!

As I was totaling up my monthly miles, I realized I was sitting at 98.5 for May mileage. Hmmmm. I am not a high-mileage gal, and I seldom ever set quantitative (mileage) goals for myself. It's been my experience that "quantitative goals" usually lead to injury because a lot of the "quality" gets overlooked in the quest for those high numbers. But, hello? When I'm that close to 100, even I can buckle.

I had an extended lunch hour on Tuesday, and it was a beautiful day. I decided to lace up, head out, and do that final 1.5 mile to get me to the century mark for May. No harm, no foul...right?

Wednesday morning, though, my heel was not happy. It was not too painful to walk or stand on, but it certainly didn't feel comfortable. I'm not new to this running thing....I know that tough 15-miler would eventually come back to bite my backside, I was just surprised it took almost four days to do so. And, typically, I do not run five miles following a tough run (but I had waited two days, and everything felt fine). Could it have been that itty bitty 1.5 lunchtime run (in some older shoes) on Tuesday that did it?

None the less, Wednesday was Global Running Day, and I was not about to sit it out.  I had tried to organize a small group run with some local people, but it never came to fruition. My friend, Barb, wanted to run a few miles, so we went to a nearby lake which has an approximate 1-mile loop around the perimeter. Throughout the day, my foot had been rallying back and was feeling better. This was a perfect scenario...I could run one mile and call it good, or I could run a few extra miles if the stiffness/achiness dissipated.

It may have been Global Running Day, but a gal can still plank

I wound up running two laps (two miles) and decided to leave it at that. My heel felt better the longer I ran, but I didn't want to overdo it. Besides, I had a half marathon (my FAVORITE event every year) happening on Saturday and I didn't want to DNS that race.

Thursday arrived, and my heel was feeling kind of achy again. I taped the heel and part of the arch, slid on my comfy Alegria's, and hobbled off to work. Determined to stay off my feet until race day, I did the absolute minimum....some planking, push-ups, and a little bit of upper-body strength work. And, throughout the day (and evening) I iced, massaged, stretched, and rolled.

More planking...don't plank on your forearms in a shirt with button cuff sleeves...you won't last long #ouch

Also, I tapped into my inner art geek and worked on modifying a shirt to wear for Saturday's race. This was a shirt I'd gotten last summer, in support of a friend who was battling colon cancer. Sadly, my friend, Michelle, lost her battle in August. Although I had never worn the shirt, there was no way I was gonna get rid of it. It didn't really fit me very well, though, so I found some ideas on Pinterest and got to work. I cut several slits along the side seams, and "braided" them, which gave it a funky, ruched effect. I cut off the sleeves, and then did several thin slits along the neckline, and braided those as well (which gave the arm openings a ruffled look)...and that was the final touch!  I was very happy with how the Michelle shirt turned out!

Michelle's fighter verse: "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength"

Friday, the heel felt better, but still not optimal in the morning. By the end of the day, though, it was feeling (almost) back to normal. I continued icing it, massaging it , and foam rolling it throughout the day (and kept my fingers crossed!).

Saturday arrived with a 3:30 AM wake-up (that is not a typo, by the way). We were up, dressed, breakfasted, and in Barb's car by 4:15AM to make the trek to Des Moines. The race, Dam to Dam, is a point-to-point race, and all the runners have to ride shuttle buses to the start line...and the last bus departs downtown Des Moines at 5:45 for the 7:00AM start time.

After the finish line, with the husband

Let's just say we had beautiful (near perfect) weather, my heel felt a little strange for most of the race (but didn't get angry until near mile 11), and even with some intermittent walking I still sneaked in a course PR. The full race recap is coming, so stay tuned.

Myself with Eric, Dave, and Barb

Immediately following the race, though, I had to hobble all around. My heel simply was not gonna let me stand or walk on it without attitude. I didn't do much on my feet for the remainder of the day. When we got back to town, the new issue of Runner's World had arrived in the mail, so that kept me entertained as I lounged with my feet up.

Recovery 101:Feet up. Compression on. Runner's World to read. Max for company.

By Sunday, my foot was already feeling better. We went to church, and to the grocery store. I did some weed pulling and gardening stuff....but pretty much stayed off my feet as much as possible. And, I did some ice, compression, rolling, massaging....wait, have I mentioned that before? I'm not worried (much) about my heel (yet). It was exactly a year ago (around mile 9 or 10) of Dam to Dam 2015 when my left foot had almost an exact same issue...except that gradually spread to my arch as I was running (well, hello there, Plantar Fasciitis!). So far, this has only been my heel affected, and I'm hoping to keep it that way. I have another (local) 13.1 this next Saturday, and a whole slew of stuff happening in July...including my 12-hour Ultra. I don't have any time for a wonky heel to mess with my running.

In other news...

The planking challenge has been extended another month, and we're also doing daily push-ups! Max supervised my 2:30 plank on Sunday morning, and helped me count out my 30 push-ups as well. He's a good dog.

I was really saddened to hear of Muhammad Ali's passing. He was a great athlete with a strong drive

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How was your week? Ever experience a wonky heel? How about Plantar Fasciitis? Both? How did you treat it?

As always, I'm linking up with the fabulous ladies, Holly (from HoHo Runs ) and Tricia (from MissSippiPiddlin ), for the Weekly Wrap. Do head over, check out their great blogs, and see what everyone else has been doing.