Not just plantar fasciitis

I went to the podiatrist today, who did xrays on my feet, and it turns out, I also have heel spurs. No bueno. So my doc put me on a fairly conservative treatment plan which includes new shoes (which I already have), heel inserts, more motrin, aspercreme, and then in a couple of weeks I can come back and get a cortisone shot if needed. Worst case scenario would be surgery, but she didn't think it'd come to that. She did say I could start slowly adding in some walking up to my comfort level. I asked about a mile a day, and she said that would be fine as long as I'm not hurting much. Basically, I can't make it worse, as it's not the spur itself hurting, its the tissue around it. So I can make my pain much worse on ME, but not the condition itself.

We did talk about the 3 Day. She said it really depends on how treatments go. She didn't rule it out though, which gives me hope! And she said I'd need to be willing to not be afraid to use the medics if necessary to ice it or wrap it. So it's still def a possibility. I'm going to work my hardest to make sure I can safely train and be prepared for it, while encouraging healing. I need to get down in weight as much as possible between now and then too, which will help take some of the pressure off too.

Plantar Fasciitis

Total suckage here. I'm working on healing up my foot now thanks to plantar fasciitis. I walked almost 6 miles on Saturday, 3 on Sunday with quite a bit of pain, and then a slowish 1.77 on Monday, and by then, I was in a LOT of pain. I can't walk at all barefoot, esp when I first get up in the morning, so have to have shoes on even at home (thank goodness for my crocs!!). And doing any kind of light walking (like going into stores for instance) leaves me in pain. So for now, all walking has been halted to let this heal. I've also begun doing stretches, icing it, etc. And I'm shoe shopping again, and will be headed to a podiatrist soon. On the one hand, I'm glad to know about this now so I can be prepared come November for the 3 Day, but I'm also extremely frustrated. With the added walking, my weight has really begun dropping, and the weather has been so beautiful, I want to be out in it. I don't want anything derailing me!

My basic plan right now, is to baby it til this weekend, and then maybe get in a slow mile in new shoes. A very slow mile. If that feels ok, I'll add more distance, though certainly not the 6 miles I WANTED to do this weekend again. :( But hopefully, if I do this the right way, I'll be back doing long walks in no time.

Slight change

If you look at the right side of the blog, I made a small change to the ticker. It was originally setup to log miles walked this year. Well, the first part of this year wasn't so good so I restarted it to log since March 1st, when Beth and I restarted the Losin Together blog. It's not super impressive yet, but stay tuned, it's gonna get GOOD. :)

A walk to remember

Last year, with all the long training walks I did for the half, I learned a lot of valuable lessons about nourishing my body and providing it with energy. Yeah, apparently I forgot all of those lessons since then. D and I headed out on a 4-5 mile walk today. I did try to be semi-prepared. I had carby snacks, ate a PBJ before going, had 2 bottles of water in the stroller, and had on sunscreen and a hat. But then, an old friend caught up to me on the trail, and we chatted some as we walked so I ended up going a mile further than planned. On our way back, at 4.22 miles, I stopped to let D go play on a playground right off the trail. He took off running, immediately tripped and scraped the mess outta his knee, blood everywhere. As I cleaned him up, my body felt weird. I knew what was coming then. It was hitting an energy wall. I immediately started munching on carbs and sucking down water, but it wasn't enough. We ended up sitting til the dizzyness passed, but were still 1.5 miles from home. So we got up finally and started walking. I didn't get far before I hit that wall again and had to sit down. At this point, I came very close to calling a friend to come get us, but wanted to give it one more try. Again, didn't make it far. As I was sitting down on the curb, the color purple in the stroller caught my eye. It turned out to be a bottle of Propel. Score!! Even though it expired in Feb, I quickly downed 1/4th of it. The resulting energy surge, and drinking the rest of it on that 1.5 miles, got me home. So...lesson remembered. Water is NOT enough for me. I think I was feeling a lot of that at the half last year too. My body needs those electrolytes. Moral of the story: know your body and be prepared, you can't afford to get stuck out on a trail somewhere!! (This is not the first time I have learned a hard lesson out on the trail...sheeesh) But despite it all, I feel great about having done a total of 5.78 miles today.

Welcome to April

It's April 5th but close enough. Easter was this past weekend, and despite how I felt all day, D and I had some really good discussion about it. I found a video online that we watched together, and then I read him the easter story from his kiddo bible. This is the first year that he really asked more questions, and while I know he still doesn't understand it, nor can he grasp it, I loved some of the questions he had.

I also changed my Heels and Hills walk in May to the 10K. I'm so not ready for the half, and that was a tough choice to make but, I feel it's for the best. I HAVE started training for the 3 day in November, and have gotten in a couple of decent 3 mile walks. We have lots more distance to travel but I'm making a good start.

Despite AF being a PITA this week, my weight has been coming down this past week and weekend, esp with the upped walking. I am loving that and will definitely continue on this path.

And finally, I reached over 50% in my 3 Day walk fundraising!!! I def have my team, The Boobie Battalion, to thank for helping in that, as it was the garage sale that threw me over. We work so well together as a team, and I can't wait for the walk!