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| Artwork By: Colleen Yorke, © 2015. |
There it was, the sharp pain in
the foot arch, immediately paralyzing the foot from taking another stride.
Plantar fasciitis, or runner’s heel, is every long distance runner’s worst
nightmare. An inflamed plantar fascia, the thick tissue that provides static
support of the longitudinal arch and dynamic shock absorption can take anywhere
from 1 to 18 months to fully heal.
Just returned from a three weeks’
trip abroad, dealing with sleep insomnia, different diets, and climate changes - I
should have known better. Instead I laced up shoes that should have been
discarded months ago for a 25K run on the beach. Within a split second my dream
of running the San Francisco Marathon this year shattered. Incredulous at
first, our first reaction is denial. “It cannot be that bad”, we think. I don’t
know why I ever thought that, or even considered running anytime soon, because
the pain the next morning felt like the joint efforts of Darth Vader, Sauron and Lord Voldemort.
Any form of running, even a small
dash across street at a changing light sends a piercing pain through my foot. The
best cure for plantar fasciitis of course is to stop running altogether. For a runner
like myself this would be the kiss of death. Similar to bone fractures, broken up scar
tissue is an Achilles heel for future injuries. I am on my fifth day of
recovery: swimming laps in the pool, walking around with an arch support and
praying that my foot repairs itself. At this point it is too early to tell.
