Plantar-Fasciitis??

OK, so I've been having heel pain since the Jingle Bell run back in November. Literally STOPPED exercising in Feb and March cuz it hurt too darn much.

Running guru Amanda listened to me whine then found me this site: www.plantar-fasciitis.org.

Sounds pretty much like what I've got going on. When I stop and stretch out my calves while walking and really get warmed up, it doesn't hurt quite so much. Thinking maybe I should take the ibuprofen before I walk so maybe by the end of the walk it will have kicked in! :)

So, I'm trying to walk at least 2x per week with a group from work - we're up about to 2.5 to 3 miles in our lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a far cry from where I was hoping to be before the marathon in October, BUT I can still make it there if I can just figure out a long-term solution for this heel pain.

Jingle Bell Run Update

Today was the Jingle Bell Run and I had high hopes that were soon squashed.

I got there early enough to get a walk in to warm up, so I could start off the race runing instead of walking. Which was cool - and it worked. For about 1k.

(start of race - I'm at the far left of pic, in purple jacket)

After that first 1k, my left ankle really started hurting and I slowed to a walk. A slow walk. Even that hurt. I thought - "I can't make it up this hill - not at all!" (from JCCC entrance on College to the corner of Quivira for those who know the area). Yanked my headphones from my ears, hoping the sound of the cards whizzing past would stir up my adrenaline a little. I literally had tears falling down my cheeks as I got mad at myself for being this "fragile" and easily broken. I honestly thought it would be better to just stop, sit down and have myself a good cry.

But, I didn't. I kept walking. I adjusted my expectations and decided that to WALK (even really slowly) and finish would be better than to feel sorry for myself and stop.

Eventully a nice woman named Bridget stepped up beside me and struck up a conversation. I matched her pace and she got me through the race. Literally. Without her, I don't think I would have finished. We talked about being atheletes in high school and husbands and kids and God and who knows what else. Anything to keep from focusing on how the race wasn't turning out to be what we expected and to keep us moving. I also reazlied at some point my ankle stopped hurting and I probably could have run again (and run the whole rest of the way!)- but I thought that talking to her was more important than trying to get a lower time.

As we got close to the end, I said "you wanna sprint it out?" (We had both been sprinters in high school - but it sounds like she was much better than I was!) She agreed and off we went. That last 100 meters felt GREAT (and they got pics of it...)!

(me in purple, Bridget in red)

The sprint didn't make a lot of difference to my time (kept me under 51 minutes but that's about it) but it made a world of difference to my attitude. To know that I finished the race and that I could overcome my internal issues was really cool. So - thank you Bridget wherever you might be now. I owe this race to you!

================
Official results
50:46.8
(same as my iPod and watch)

Women 30-34
24th

Overall
269

sprinting to the finish line -->

:( me too

I am an absolute mess!
I suppose I'm feeling accountable, but convicted is more like it.

* I haven't been taking my meds properly
* My weight is easily back to where I started, if not higher
because...
* I have not been working out
* I have been eating like Armageddon is around the corner (speaking of which, have we ever had this many horrific events in one week?)
* I am having issues with Nathaniel's behaviour which made for a mother's day not quite as I expected it, and I am just at the end of my rope with him right now.
* Work has become stressful, culminating with the fact that one of our employees is going to be terminated at a critical time of the year and I will have to absorb at least SOME of her duties when I already feel overloaded
* Our house is an absolute disaster and our feeble attempts to get things up and running are constantly sabotaged by my own laziness, fatigue and not-giving-a-crap
* I have felt terrible lately, mostly due to some potential neurological issues/and or impending allergy season, but most likely due to items 1 - 3

I am completely back in crisis mode AGAIN and the thought of breaking this all back down again and starting somewhere is enough to make me want to crawl in a corner somewhere. I suppose I HAVE been doing that to some extent. I have been taking some extra long weekend naps lately.

I can't even begin to think of where to start.

I feel what you both are saying about the sweets, I think that that is one of my hugest hurdles but will be the hardest to overcome. I even told Eric that I would nix the sweets if he would work on his smoking because it's the only thing that I feel that closely to. He made some excuse about it meaning that HE would have to give up sugar too and that's where the conversation stopped.

I am just really depressed and discouraged now, because I don't feel like I have made or held myself accountable for my actions for a long time.

Sorry to be such a downer, but that's probably why I haven't been writing. I wish that I had better news to share.

I hope that you are getting back on track.
What can we do TODAY to start digging our way out of this?