The Great Toe Scare of 2008

So after I had that great 8-mile run on Wednesday, I proceeded to bang the crap out of my left foot when I whacked it against a metal folding chair while running for the phone. Ugh! I could not believe how painful that was! I'm sure I broke some small bone in there, the smallest toe was all swollen, red, and hot to the touch. I couldn't walk on it for hours! I mean, come on, this is the very first week of my new training program! I immediately launched into panic mode, checked out marathons later in the summer, and thought about how to ask my coach to put the program on hold for the few weeks I thought I would need to heal.

Yesterday morning the foot was absolutely no better, even after icing and some advil. I was really limping for most of yesterday. Coach Brian called yesterday, he was very encouraging. He said it was still so early, even a brief layoff wouldn't affect me, and there are plenty of alternatives, like pool running, to keep me in shape. He's very positive, and I need that to calm me down. Then I took a power nap in the afternoon, slept almost 2 hours. When I woke up, the foot felt a lot better. Still painful, but markedly improved over just a few hours before. I dared to try on my running shoes, and that hurt so much I thought there was no way I'd be running this week. I taped the toes before going to bed.

When I woke up, the foot was sore, but still much better than yesterday. I decided to test it out on the treadmill. The treadmill is slightly gentler, and if I had to bail during the run, I would already be at home. I had 4 miles on the schedule. I started very slowly, at a 9:40 pace, and slowly increased speed, never going above 9:15. I couldn't believe it, but the run went fine! The entire 4 miles felt good (except for when I landed on the outside of the left foot at the very start of the run, that hurt so much I thought there's no way I'd finish it). I can't even begin to describe how relieved I am.

But the curious thing is my sudden awareness this morning of how philosophical running can be. These bumps in the road occur in training, and how I handle them may be indicative of how I handle problems that come up in the race itself. Yesterday, I didn't like what I saw. I went straight into panic mode, instead of taking a wait-and-see attitude. Today, not 48 hours after the injury, I was back on track with the program, though it was a slow treadmill run. I must view this incident as an attempt to distract me from my goal, and I won't be distracted again!