Plantar Fasciitis

(This is Kristin)

Well, I have been asked a lot lately if I am running at all and if my foot is any better. I think I have plantar fasciitis.

My symptoms:

• heel pain
• tight feeling along arch
• greater pain when it's early or when I'm just standing/walking after long sitting

What has worked?

• As much as I am against this from a fashion standpoint- wearing my running shoes all day (gulp) even with my work clothes has made an amazing difference! I alternated days with my arch support (Superfeet) inserts in or out.
  

Dansko:

• Everyone swears by Dansko clogs and I have never wanted to get any (They're not my style and are pricey. If I'm payin' $100+ for shoes they better be hot!). Danna and some work buddies who have had plantar fasciitis say they were the only thing that would get rid of it. After my running shoes worked so well, I think I need to do it! Our friend sells them at a store named Chandler's. If you're interested- tell them Janene sent you and help our sistah out! They're really pretty cute and versatile (and also go well with purple cabbage as shown).
  
• Icing after work-outs! I'm a firm believer. I even sneakily ice while treating patients.
• Rest! I have cross-trained and rested a ton. (My next post on Tues. will have some fun work-out video suggestions.)
• And finally- long gentle stretches. See suggestions here.
  

Couldn't find a good picture of this next one, but it's my favorite!
So, yes, things are getting better for me and I'm running 1-2X per week right now. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts or experiences with plantar fasciitis in comments!

Week 5

First person who can name the 2 men above wins! (If you don't know how to comment, you click below where it says how many comments there are so far [under this post] and then you either sign in with your gmail name or do anonymous and sign it...) Husbands are disqualified!

Well here we are in week 5 already! Danna and I had a great 9 mile run this weekend. I feel so cool saying that I ran 9 miles all in one day. I feel the need to interject it into random conversations.

"What did I do this weekend? Nothing much, just some errands and some church. Oh, and I ran nine miles in one day."
or
"Yes I will have the Fettuccine Alfredo. My body probably needs the carbs. . .cuz I ran 9 miles today! Consecutively."
or
"Oh, good to meet you too. Yeah, I ran 9 miles today. NINE!"

Well, I won't get too cocky about it, since Matt had to drag me around for the rest of the day. After the run I barely made it through my cousin's wedding dinner, and then I CRASHED on the drive home. We even had to pull over on the freeway so he could take over the driving. After sleeping in the car for an hour, Matt dragged me to the couch as shown below. (Note that it was only 5:30 pm.) There I slept until 10 pm, when he again woke me and said I needed to get upstairs to my actual bed, to which I responded "Schmmmmmlllmnnmr." Matt took this for assent, and pulled me upstairs. I slept the rest of the night!!! And then took an additional nap on Sunday. I make me sick.

My cockiness took another blow when I mentioned my nine mile status to Larry Payne (see previous post by Danna). He casually mentioned (as casually as one might mention they had a sandwich for lunch) he had run a 14 miler Saturday. Darn that Larry Payne! He's too good.


Danna and I went to see a running doctor for advice and preparations. He is awesome and highly recommended- Dr. Toronto. Like 2 big nerds we asked if we could take a picture with him for our blog. And yes, I am wearing my little yellow running shorts in the shot. That is what they asked me to wear for the appointment. Danna accompanied me to my appointment so we could get that shot (yes, blog readers, those are the kind of lengths to which we are willing to go for you) and stayed to be my secretary and take notes during my appointment. Turns out I have chondromalacia (see picture below) which is what has been causing my knee grinding sounds all these years (you too, Mom!)
He answered all 33 of my questions, and I got to see x-rays of my knees too. Now I have special stretches and exercises I am supposed to do daily. I also bought the wrong shoes apparently. Good thing I got them pre-owned on ebay!

Pre-Season

When we refer to "pre-season" we are referring to the time before the official schedule actually starts. The schedule runs 18 weeks before the marathon, but we started training much earlier than that. In many ways we have no idea what we are doing, and without a schedule we thought we should just try to...well...run a lot. There were many unforgettable events and "land marks" during pre-season that we would like to share with you, our supporters.


First of all, I personally became obsessed with all things marathon. I began asking every person I know who has ever ran a marathon every possible question I could think of. What kind of GU did you like? (GU, pronounced "goo," is a brand of energy gel many marathoners eat/drink/suck on.) What did you wear? How was it? Which marathon? Tell me about your training, your belt, your injuries, where you put your Bodyglide...ha ha ha! But seriously, I needed to know every detail. I didn't want to show up on marathon day and be one of those noobies who ends up in the medical van because she thought it would be okay to wear her new ipod arm band during the race.

Matt (husband) went to the library and checked out a stack of marathon books for me. Books I have been consuming like I consume Fiber One Bars (which is voraciously) and I now consider myself somewhat of an expert on things that one month ago I had never heard of (e.g., Bodyglide, fartlek, GU, overtraining vs overloading, form, and Mizuno shoes). If you are considering joining me in this crazy lifestyle, I highly recommend the following books:

*Running - by Galloway, who in the runner's world needs no first name for identification (A really great comprehensive book that covers just about everthing)
*The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women - by Dawn Dias (Hillarious, sarcastic, and the inspiration for this blog! And, yes, it actually had some insightful advice too.)
*Marathon - by Galloway (My Hero!! :) The local running store experts recommended this one to me. Has a few more specific tidbits his other book doesn't have.)
*How to Run a Marathon - by Tim Rogers (This British author seems to think the London Marathon deserves to be mentioned on EVERY page. Okay, we GET IT! London is the best, blah, blah, blah. But it did give me lots of interesting info from his personal perspective. It also made me scared that I won't be running in England where the fabulous Brits would be cheering me on!)

OTHER PRE-SEASON EVENTS:

*Danna and I spend hundreds at the Salt Lake Running Company on things you wouldn't even think we would need- like special running socks and underwear, and it ain't ever cheap, baby. Here's a picture of my new stuff:


*Our husbands start a special support group (well, partnership) and start weeping frequently. Condolence cards and/or meals for the hubs' are welcome.
*I have an oh-so-painful in-grown toenail surgery on 6 spots and stop training for two weeks. I did, however really strengthen up my shin muscles by walking on my heels non-stop. No joke.


The next photo is my toenail now. As a result of the surgery it is skinnier, yellower, more jagged, and over-all weirder looking. I am sure to lose toenails in the marathon! (This is common for marathoners.)


*Everyone I know is asked to pray for my joints as we Memmott girls are known for our bad knees (if you are reading this- consider yourself asked!)
*I run during pre-season with a dorky, uncomfortable fanny pack. Enter chafing.
*We enter the lottery for the St. George Marathon as a team, and pray our guts out that we will make it.
*WE MAKE IT!!
*Amazingly, during pre-season we did not actually run a single run together, and we were very nervous that we had different paces.
*My physical therapist co-workers (who are anti-running) tell me I don't have a runner's body and should not do it. As a speech therapist, I tell them they do not have talkers' mouths, and that they can stuff it!
*My toes heal from the surgery very nicely! Yippee!!
*My husband takes great pains to find me the perfect pair of shoes on ebay at a much lower price than the running store.
*I upgrade from a fanny pack to a true runner's belt- no more getting whacked 400 times with my own Gatorade bottle.

As you can see, we had an exciting pre-season. When it came time to start our true schedule we felt we were more that ready for it- the right gear, the right toe-nail widths, and the right running partner(s). The old days of choosing our rest days and run distances are only a pleasant memory. THE SCHEDULE is now our master!