Mashup feet :(

One feels like such a hero when like an intrepid warrior you go against the odds to conquer that mountain in your mind, that hot and painful yet admirable Christmas eve run...

until the consequences hit.

I seem to have developed metatarsalgia: pain in the ball of the foot.  On top of that the whole trapped nerve thing is playing up so I feel pain and a contraction down my right side, specifically shoulder, hip and toes.  Do I want to be one of these people who moans about ailments on the internet? Not really; however, this half marathon training has now been somewhat compromised.

I can't just blame the long run of course, or the sneakers (...we'll get to those beasts just now)....because Christmas came with an abundance of alcohol and total throwing of reasonable eating patterns. And as for sleep...well that's become a random act that could occur or not at any time! More so for my children who've given the night/day relationship a whole new meaning, but as I lay in my bed uncharacteristically tossing and turning at 2am this morning, I realised I too have the night into day affliction.

However, the net result is I haven't run in almost a week and I didn't even feel able to do the Monday night beast bike ride around the Savannah last night. And my feet still hurt, with every step! I finally googled it, hence the self diagnosis above, and fortunately, if you click the link, you'll realise it's not too serious, just a pain in the...foot really. But to now say I'm running 14 kilometres this week seems to be so stupid I can't even contemplate it. Huge sigh!

So as a problem solver, solution based thinker, fixer typa gal, what am I going to do about it? (other than become a couch potato, begging my daughter for a foot massage as often as possible....) 

Firstly, yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and bought new running shoes.  

...not a gel pack in sight...& no I'm not going to wash them! :-( 

I'm so angry with the old ones, yes those there offenders on the right....I feel I might use them for J'ouvert and cover their luminescent, snowy whiteness with mud and paint!!  (not that they're that clean anymore....) Now there was a time...a few decades back, where I would only wear Nike Air trainers as they had the air cushioning. This became imperative after my very first carnival in non air cushioned shoes where the excruciating pain in my ankles meant the only way I could make playing mas in the marathon Tuesday session was to swig neat rum washed down with water, courtesy my father!  Soon enough though, everyone cottoned on so all running shoes had some kinda air, gel, cushioning...so I stupidly relaxed my guard!! Fast forward to the Adidas I recently bought (yep those beasts above ^^). I knew they were my '2nd' running shoes and I still needed to get better ones, but I convinced myself I needed New Balance which are somewhat tricky to find in Trinidad.  I have a supplier, but apparently her stock are STILL on the dock, 2 months later, awaiting goodness only knows what bureaucracy and financial shenanigans... Anyway, the Adidas felt OK on the 10k run, and I truly believed they had some kind of gel like something in them as all running shoes do these days..not that I could see it of course.  But no. Apparently not.  And then I didn't put in the wonderful Dr. Scholl arch support GEL insole that I'd used with my last shoe as I thought that might have been a contributory factor to the blisters I was getting... So my poor feet pounded relentlessly for an hour and a half without anymore shock absorption than the plastic of the shoes and they didn't appear to appreciate it one bit!

Just look at all that gel....

So the new babies have so much gel I feel like I'm walking on air, through the metatarsalgia pain... I walked around the shop wanting to laugh and cry. The crying was caused by the combination of realising I'd unnecessarily caused myself excruciating pain by not being able to face the manic Christmas shoppers and the fight to get out of the car park (has been known to take 2 hours....) last week, the actual pain still in a layer before the soft cloud like sensation and mainly, and most importantly THE PRICE!!  


They were EXORBITANT!! Twice as much as I've ever paid for sneakers before, and more than I ever believed I would pay for shoes of any description, sob. But it had to be done. I did have to walk around the mall, check the other crappy running shoes on offer in other stores, by some cheap reflexology slippers which feel like walking on needles to the point where a heat was radiating from my feet making me wonder if I had in fact created jet packs and was about to take off.... but I went back and swiped that credit card...earning plenty airmiles as a small consolation, and bought the new Asics. Yes, after all the talk and posturing, Asics it had to be...but the ones with the maximum gel going all the way up to the front. I was kinda kicking myself that only the most expensive ones were still available due to my dragging and stalling and misguided obsession with New Balance, but I think it's actually for the best that I didn't try and buy cheaper ones which are still very expensive but still might have had foot mashing properties.

So now I'm wondering when on earth I'm going to use these high end sporting items as MY FEET STILL HURT!  But I guess it's going to be a case of biting the bullet and taking a short run and being ready with ice pack directly afterwards...although the thought of ice gives me nerve pain. Despite the incredible support of these luxury designed items I'm also wondering if I should stick in the arch support too, except it doesn't quite fit with the generic insole and if I take that out then the front of the shoe is left with no padding which is the part that hurt, or try the Dr. Scholl ball of foot insole??.....ok breathe.....but I guess it's going to be a question of some more painful trials and hopefully fewer errors before I get it right. I really need to be a little more courageous too as metatarsalgia isn't so very serious and will not in fact consign me to a wheelchair if I run without optimum padding. And to give up on this half marathon now would seem verging on pathetic and life shrinking, right Anaïs?...

So...I will keep you, whoever you may be, posted on my running developments. In the meantime, I'm attempting to address the other faulty body mechanics and doing my damnedest to get a full body massage!