Ups and Downs - Kirsty

This has been a week full of ups and downs in terms of my running. I have finally been able to do some "test" runs to see how my foot would hold up now that it has had some time to recover with intensive physical therapy, rest and cross-training. The only problem is that because of this
injury, my mileage is nowhere near where it should have been at this point in my training plan.

I did a very short test run last weekend of two miles and it felt pretty much fine - I was very nervous about doing more mileage as the last time I ran I could barely walk for two to three days after. I was pleased to get out running, albeit short. I tried another five miles on Monday, which again went ok, I could feel the pain start to increase after around mile four but it was manageable. We decided to up it yesterday to see how much I could take and I was able to do eight miles with increasing pain after about four and a half miles. The problem is that once my heel and arch start hurting, I start running on the outside of my foot and then the pain just starts going up my ankle and the outside of my leg - not good either! Again, I was pleased that I was able to increase the distance a little but it is nowhere near the 20 miles I should be at by now. My biggest issue right now is that after I run, later in the evening, after icing and stretching and rest, the pain gets so unbearable that I can't even take a step - last night I compared it to two days after a C-section trying to walk without pain meds. It was so bad I was in tears. A couple of Advil, stretching and it felt a little better this morning. I was back at physical therapy again today for some more stretching and some rather mean massage on my calf. I won't be doing any more running between now and the Boston Marathon :-(. I will be doing some cross training and my goal right now is to get half way. If I can make it to half way without too much discomfort, I will try to get to Newton-Wellesley and take it from there. It is probably the most I can hope for at this point and without causing myself long-term injury.