I am temporarily hanging up my running shoes.
I’ve hinted to it on social media, but I’ve been struggling for the last month with some foot pain and numbness between my third and fourth toes on my left foot. This is the same sort of issue I experienced training for my first half marathon in May 2013 but mysteriously cleared up in time for my race.
However, it has reared its ugly head again following the ZOOMA race … and I suspect my ill-fated decision to wear my new shoes is the cause. It got so bad training for the Hartford Half that I had to do ice baths and pop Advil after my long runs, because while the pain wasn’t bad when I’m actually running – it kind of feels like your sock is bunched up beneath your toes – when I stop it’s excruciating.
I now wake up every morning with numbness in those toes (particularly the fourth toe), which gradually dissipates over the course of the day, only to reappear again the next morning. I tried going for a run on Sunday, thinking I would just do a 10K, and I had to call it quits after four miles. Between my nagging cough and the foot pain, I was miserable.
After consulting Dr. Google (of course), this sounds like textbook Morton’s Neuroma – inflammation and thickening of the nerve in the ball of the foot, which causes pain and numbness … particularly between the third and fourth toes.
Remember my complaints about burning pain in the ball of my foot while running ZOOMA in my new shoes? Suspicious, right?
So it’s time to face reality and try and give my foot some time to heal. Yes, I will go see a doctor if this continues after I’ve stopped running for awhile, and maybe there’s another culprit. Maybe it’s something else entirely. But either way, my body is telling me to stop and I’m going to listen … even if I’m feeling annoyed and disappointed about the fact that this may very well be a self-inflicted injury.
Thankfully my racing season is pretty much over, so now’s a good time to take a running breather and head back to exercise classes for me … which I admit I’m kind of excited about, since all my cross-training took a backseat when I was half marathon training.
Right now, I’m looking at a mix of Body Pump, spin, barre, yoga and boot camp to get me through the next month or so. Dr. G. and I were planning to run a Turkey Trot in Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving, and I’m not ruling it out altogether, but there’s a good chance I may have to back out.