Less than a month!!

And I haven't run in almost a week!! Freaking out!!!!! It's been a bit of a traumatic week for me. After Sunday's 20 miler, my foot was hurting as expected. What wasn't expected was the pain not going away. I skipped out on Tuesday's run and rode 17 miles on the bike that morning. (There's only so many times you can circle the mall before losing your mind). I set out again on Wednesday because it was still sore. On Thursday morning, I got up, got dressed, put the bike on the rack (just in case it started hurting), but I never made it out of the driveway. It was hurting. I ran down the driveway and down the dead end road. I was crying. It wasn't hurting bad, it just never stopped hurting. I came back in the house, laid down, and balled my eyes out. This can't be happening! I was furious, fed-up, frustrated, and exhausted from telling myself it's just a sprain. An overuse injury. It'll get better. Well, it still hurts. I've tried three different insoles (although one seems to be beneficial), ice (my toes are turning purple), and a pain relieving cream from a pharmacy friend, nothing seems to be working. After several tearful phone calls and a wonderful mom with connections, I'm going to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. The doc mom knows is a triathlete. This helps because he knows the pain tolerance marathoners and triathletes will go through to finish a race. He won't be a jerk and just say stay off it without any care. He'll be sympathetic.

So, I've been on the bike all this week. My rear end hurts... I don't know what's worse, arse pain or foot pain.... :) Sorry. Anyway, Tim let me borrow his stationery bike for a while. All I've been using is my bike on a trainer. I don't have a speedometer thing to tell how far I've gone. I've just been watching the time. The stationery provides more resistance and tells me distance. (I'm almost done with season 3 of Alias. I watch it while riding when Wes isn't around.) Although it's helping me maintain leg turnover and fitness, it's very dissatisfying. But I'll do whatever I have to do to make it to NY.

Tonight after my ride, I was looking at my feet. Feeling the area where the pain is. I realized that the bones of the pinkie toe on my left foot are radically different than the right. It feels like the bone makes a 90 degree angle up, then straight. It seems to me (I'm famous for self-diagnosing) that the way my foot hits the ground is causing the pain. I can walk slowly and avoid it. If I adjust my stride, it doesn't hurt. ((I just can't maintain that adjustment while running long distances). I don't know if this is the reason, but it makes since. I know that I have a metatarsal fracture between the 2nd & 3rd toes. That's what started this whole thing. But my compensating for that pain and the way its healed may have somehow changed the "structure" of my foot and how it lands when I walk. I don't know if this is the cause or if I'm being effected by the "Trumans" toes again. (Grandmother has bad feet. She's had several toes amputated. I hope it doesn't come to that.) I guess we'll see what the doc says this next week. I don't know if I can stand to go another week without running. If I can position that insole in a good place, I'm gone!!!