New Orleans Marathon training and race
I didn't do any specific speedwork or track workouts during the New Orleans marathon training. Instead, I just tried to run two or three of my runs each week at a "faster than easy" pace. My easy pace is around 9:30 minute miles, so I ran many of my training runs at around 8:30 minute miles. This is still slower than my Boston Qualifying goal of 8:00 minute miles, but close to my Personal Record pace. And most of these runs were shorter distances - maybe 8 miles or so. So it wasn't like I was really pushing myself.
As New Orleans approached, during my faster runs I started getting a little irritation in the hamstring tendon that runs along the back side of my left knee. Every once in awhile, it would irritate me enough to make my knee want to lock up. This only happened when I was running faster. If I slowed my pace down, then it would stop bothering me. And it never bothered me during my slower runs.
After New Orleans, I went to a new massage therapist. His methods were different than what I was used to. He was very knowledgeable about how the body works, but he didn't use any massage lotion. His massage methods was all pressure-based. I told him about the irritation in my tendon, and he worked on that leg. When he got to my left foot, he said that something was out of place, so he "popped it back in place." This caused a mild amount of pain in my foot as he did it, but it seemed fine afterwards.
Delaware Marathon training
For my next race, which was the Delaware marathon, I decided that I was going to try to set a new PR and possibly even qualify for Boston. I had almost three full months between New Orleans and Delaware. I pulled out the Runner's World app and started seriously training.
My first couple of runs were uncomfortable. The foot that the massage therapist had "popped back in place" started hurting. It hurt on the very top side of my foot, where the laces of my shoes were. In addition to the pain in my foot, the tendon in my left knee still flared up during my track workouts. Any time I would try to go fast, both my foot and my tendon would start bothering me. My knee would want to lock up. I would have to slow down. Once I slowed down, my foot still hurt, but my tendon in my knee would go back to normal.
During my first 14 mile run after the New Orleans marathon, my leg did something strange that it had never done before. When I got to about mile 10, the tendon thing started to happen and my knee wanted to lock up. In addition to that, my entire leg seemed to go numb. It didn't want to move correctly. It felt like it forgot how to run. I was almost trying to force my brain to tell my leg how to run. My leg had completely lost all coordination. I slowed my pace and hobbled along like that for two miles. Then my leg went back to normal, and I finished the last two miles with no problems.
The following week's 16 mile long run brought along the same thing. Around mile 12, my tendon started acting up and my leg lost all coordination. Again, after I slowed down and ran the next two uncoordinated miles, it went back to normal and I was able to finish just fine.
After a few weeks, the pain in the top of my foot went away completely. But the tendon thing and the knee locking up did not go away. Every time I tried to run fast during my track workouts, my tendon would bother me, my knee would lock up, and sometimes my leg would lose all coordination. For the most part, I was still able to hit my splits, although I was slightly faster toward the beginning and slower once my leg started bothering me.
The Delaware Marathon
Going into the marathon, I was very hopeful. I was excited, and I had hit (at least overall) all my speed goals during training. I was hopeful for at least a PR and possibly even a Boston Qualifying time. The first half of the race went very well. I was on track for around 8 minute miles. My BQ time is about 8:15 minute miles. So I was doing well. Even the hills didn't slow me down. I felt good.
Around mile 18, my tendon started bothering me. My body wasn't tired. My breathing was good. I was still feeling good. But my knee wanted to lock up, and I started to lose coordination of my entire leg. I slowed my pace a little, but it didn't help much. It was almost as if my leg was dead. I was practically dragging it along, prodding it to work properly. I thought to myself, "come on, leg! You know how to run! You just ran 18 miles, for goodness sakes!"
By mile 22, I felt as if I should just give up. My leg still wasn't working. I could tell my gait had changed, and I wasn't running normal because of the leg. I told myself, "just keep running. Don't stop." Normally at the end of a race like this, I have a little more energy than I did that day. But all my energy was being spent trying to get my leg to work properly and trying my best to keep my gait even. I could tell I was favoring my right leg since my left wasn't working, but I tried my hardest to keep them even.
Beyond Delaware
My foot continued to hurt slightly after returning to Atlanta the day following the race. The pain wasn't unbearable, but I started to walk on the outside of my foot trying to avoid putting pressure on the big toe area of the ball of my foot. On Wednesday, my old running partner was in town, so I went running with him. I ran 6 miles, mostly on the outside of my foot, but by the end my foot was hurting pretty bad. My running partner suggested looking at some of the podiatrists that the Runners World forum recommended. He said there were some good ones in the Sandy Springs area, so I decided to look up a podiatrist to see if I could get in to find out what was going on with my foot. I found one that looked like they specialized in runners and called to make an appointment. They were booked until June 6th.
I didn't do any running or exercising Thursday or Friday, and iced my foot a little both days. When I woke up on Friday, it actually didn't feel bad, but by the end of the day, it was hurting.
On Saturday, my best friend was running his first 5k. I had promised I would run with him, so I got up and laced up my running shoes. My foot didn't hurt too bad, but I was still walking on the outside of it to avoid putting pressure on the tender area. I ran with him the full 5k and then stood around with everyone waiting for them to announce the winners and raffles. (He won second in his age group, my sister-in-law won first overall female, and my brother one first place in his age group!) By the end of the day, my foot was swollen and hurting. I iced it before going to bed.Doctor's Visit
Monday morning, I called Aetna to find some orthopaedic doctors in my network. They gave me three possibilities. I called the first one, and they were booked out until June also. The second one said they could get me in on Thursday. The last one said they would "squeeze me in" later that day. Bingo. So I scheduled my appointment with Dr. Sutlive of Dominion Orthopaedic Clinic.
I went to the doctor, and they took three x-rays right away. Then the doctor came in and talked to me about how it happened, did a little analysis on my legs and knees, poked and prodded my foot, and told the assistant guy (sorry, I don't know what they are called at orthopaedic clinics) to take two more x-rays. He also asked me if my handwriting had gotten worse recently. I had actually just commented recently about how bad my handwriting has become now that I type all the time. I hadn't connected that with my leg until he asked the question.
After the x-rays, and some waiting, the doctor came in and asked me to follow him to look at the x-rays. There is a little piece of bone that has broken away from my foot and is sticking down into the fleshy part of the ball of my foot near my big toe - the exact place that was tender. There is also another bone that he couldn't tell if it was affected. He said as long as this other bone (I don't remember what it is called) isn't affected, I could run the Seattle marathon (provided I didn't run before it and only crosstrained by biking or swimming). If that other bone is affected, he would not recommend that I do any kind of running until the entire thing heals (6-8 weeks).
So, I'm scheduled to get an MRI of my foot on Wednesday of next week. He also wanted to do an MRI of my knee to see if there was something in my knee that was causing the tendon issue.
The doctor then told me that he has neuropothy in his feet. He can walk on them just fine on flat surfaces and in comfortable shoes, but he cannot run on them. He said when he tries to run, he feels completely uncoordinated, as if his brain isn't telling his feet what to do. He also said that if he walks on uneven surfaces, like grass, his feet feel like they are in pain. He can look down at them and see that they're not in pain, but his brain is telling him they are in pain. Because of his experience with this, and because of how I described my leg losing coordination and my handwriting change, he wants me to see a neurologist. He said they may do an MRI of my head and also possibly a spinal tap (ugh!!!).
So now I'm stuck doing crosstraining as my training for the Seattle marathon and hoping that my foot will survive a marathon in four weeks. I am going to be keeping off of it, keeping it up, and icing it as much as I can to hopefully speed up the healing process.
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