A Stitch in Time....

So we've all heard of that saying, "a stitch in time saves nine", right?  I've taken this saying to heart when it comes to marathon training, particularly when it comes to seeing my posse of paramedicals.  I've been seeing my chiro every two months and my massage therapist as often as I can...but no person more than my physio.  I went to see her on Tuesday even though there wasn't anything "wrong" per se (and had seen her only two weeks ago), but I didn't want to wait until something really IS wrong.  I'm feeling like I'm on the home stretch now, so I'm taking all the precautions I can to make sure I get to the finish line healthy.

After my great run on Saturday, my right foot was feeling pretty awesome....but after bootcamp on Monday and a short run on Tuesday, I could feel some tenderness.  Nothing really bad, more of an annoyance than real "pain".  I told my physio, and she recommended that I switch up my running surfaces (I was road running only) and the chip trail that I did with M on the weekend likely helped.  I'm still striking funny on my foot - my left side is collapsing inward to compensate for my right side but the right side is now fine and looking good.  Argh!  Will I ever get this right?  Anyways, she gave me another exercise to do, stuck me full of needles and noted that my plantar fascia is getting irritated but not quite at the "plantar fasciitis" stage.  This did strike some fear in my heart, as plantar fasciitis is a really common injury that has sidelined many a runner.  Sob.

Well dammit - I'm not letting this sideline me.  I started looking on the interweb, and saw that massage and icing the area work well...and like most things, it's better to nip it in the bud than to wait until it gets bad.  I froze a water bottle and rolled it under my arch while I sat at my desk at work and it does feel a lot better.  Hallelujah!  So going forward, I'm gonna be massaging my feet and rolling the living snot out of them daily.  And the other thing I read was that wearing non-supportive shoes (guilty) and walking barefoot (also guilty) is bad for plantar fasciitis so I've been wearing my indoor treadmill runners around the house and wore runners all day at work, even though I hate it when I see people wear runners with non-athletic wear (serious fashion faux pas in my books).  At this point, vanity < marathon, right?