Recovering Runfessions

Forgive me runners, it’s been seven months since my last runfession. I am finally making my way to the runfessional at Marcia’s Healthy Slice to cleanse my soul soles before we head into September.

You also may be joining the Fit Five Friday Link-Up with Darlene, Michelle, Renée, and Jenn.

Recovery Runfessions

I runfess I am grateful to be running enough to even think about runfessions. It’s been a slow recovery since I angered my hip running the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in May, but I am finally lacing up my running shoes again.

Recent post-run selfie!

I runfess that even though I squeezed one set of running clothes into the suitcase I took to Ireland, I never was really tempted to run. Galway had a great path along the shore that would have been perfect, but I was too jet-lagged and too concerned about saving my legs for the upcoming hiking—although I did log 22,000 steps that Friday.

I runfess by the time we got to Dublin I was fighting off a cold, so I didn’t even try to convince my husband it would be safe for me to go out alone. But by the time I got home, I was eager to try a treadmill run. My hip had been totally quiet throughout the trip, but I was still afraid it would complain about running.

I runfess  that when I woke up Monday my right Achilles felt a bit tight, but it seemed OK after I put my shoes on to walk Scooby. It also seemed OK during the 30 min treadmill class I took doing run/walk intervals—it felt so good to run and get sweaty! 😅

What’s wrong with this picture?

But I runfess that as the day wore on, my foot got worse. By the end of the day, I could barely put weight on it. 😫 I was freaking out, thinking my Achilles was having a delayed reaction to our last long hike, and that I was facing another long rehab. 😫

I already had an orthopedist appointment on Tuesday, and was able to switch it from my last shockwave treatment for my hip to this new issue. I was in so much pain my Garmin issued a high stress alert from my increased hear rate. 🚨

I limped into the orthopedist’s office  wearing only a sock on my right foot, earning immediate sympathy and concern. After x-rays and a sonogram study, my orthopedist gave me the good news: it wasn’t my Achilles. It probably was an infection around my heel—possibly from hiking for hours in soggy boots through boggy sheep pastures . . . .

Beautiful boggy conditions on our Mweelrea hike

I runfess I was so relieved when she prescribed antibiotics and meloxicam and predicted I would be fully recovered within a week. Then I tried not to think about what boggy bacteria might be living in my heel! 😳

My foot recovered even more quickly than she predicted, and was 100% fine after two days. 😄 On the other hand, I think the two days of limping strained my calf muscle. 😫 After a week of stretching and liberal application of Biofreeze, I think that is finally getting better. I runfess I am really ready for a pain-free run when everything feels good—is that too much to ask? 😉

I runfess I am grateful for how drastically my body reacted to the infection. Thank goodness the pain was too much to ignore so I sought treatment right away.

Have you had a setback on the road to recovery?