04/02/2011 – Hi there!

This is Steph, finally making another journal entry.
Things have not been good over the past few months. I have done very little running and very little of anything really. I guess I got into a bit of a funk.
I had my appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon this week and after all that waiting to finally see someone who could make my foot better it didn’t really go very well and not how I was expecting. The consultant diagnosed me with a stress fracture in my right foot as well as a Morton’s Neuroma in each foot. He squeezed my toes on each foot and sure enough they both clicked as they do when you have a Neuroma. As the squeezes didn’t hurt me the consultant concluded that it wasn’t them that was causing the problem, it was the stress fracture. He told me that my symptoms all pointed to a fracture and I couldn’t believe that an X-ray a whole year ago could have pinpointed the problem so early on. My podiatrist at the time of the injury didn’t think it was a fracture as I was able to walk so decided not to X-ray me. He also told me that stress fractures do not always show up on X-rays. However, had I known at the time I don’t know that I would have done anything differently anyway.
 
I have to go back and see the specialist in 6 months but considering its now been a whole year and one month since I injured myself I can’t see there being a miraculous cure. I haven’t stopped exercising completely for a while and don’t see me stopping every form of exercise anyway. The breaks I have taken to help my foot to heal don’t seem to have done much good because last week my foot swelled up again and started to hurt as badly as one year ago!
Anyway, for me, it seems like running again will be something that I probably can’t take up in the near future.

The specialist couldn’t answer my question about the injuries I keep getting in my other leg when I try to run for more than two weeks except to say that my left leg is pronating more than my right. The thing is though, if this has always been the case, how come I could run for 6 months straight without any trouble until I bought those new trainers that caused my injury last January?? Of course, the consultant wasn’t interested in probing this question futher as he tried to make me leave! Also, my custom made insoles were made from moulds of my feet so should correct any differing pronation problems in either foot. I stood in the moulds myself so if my left leg leant inwards more than my right that is what it would have done in the moulds. So, you would have thought that the resulting orthopaedic insoles I received would have corrected this individual problem I have with this leg.
 
I have no answers but know that I can’t run anymore. I can however, walk! Eden and I haven’t been hiking recently though because without running as a base for all the other forms of exercising I do, it seems a bit pointless. I know its not, but exercising now is just exercising!! It’s not being done to improve on my running, only for its own sake. It’s been very hard to keep up with my routine but I do my best.
Of course, I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself, as there really is nothing that can be done except time may heal me. My foot has begun to hurt again but we’ve been away so I actually took a break from the gym!! So Lord only knows what’s going on.
Eden has agreed with me to phone some German Shepherd breeders so I can have the puppy I’ve always wanted. It will certainly make hiking more interesting and will push us to go out again every weekend for long walks. I’m hoping that I’ll be too busy training and socialising a new puppy to think too much about running and my exercise routine at the gym. I may even give up my membership once the puppy can walk a good distance with me. I used to love walking my old dog for hours and hours over different terrain and it always kept the weight off!!

I certainly haven’t got the same body I had when I was running regularly, I’ve lost that leanness and gained a little fat around the middle!! It’s hard to have a really fit body when all you do is power walk, yoga and a bit of weight training. There’s certainly no intense cardio going on there at all! But, at least I know now that I’m probably not meant to be a runner and at least I can power walk without injuring myself badly. I have had a few strains and soreness since I have started to do this regularly but it’s never stopped my routine and how far I can walk. The only pain I get is when I hike more than 6 miles but the consultant said that the likely explanation for this is the Neuroma. It never hurts however, on the treadmill, and I’m glad because I do love the treadmill! The consultant said to use the cross trainer and to swim. But I’ve been there and done that! I hate the cross trainer and It’s too cold to keep stripping off for a swim.
So my main area of expertise from now on is going to be researching running from a scientific point of view and maybe dispelling or encouraging certain running myths. Eden is now the resident runner and you will be hearing more from him soon.

6/5/2011 - Army Training Course Needed!

05/10/2010 - Morton’s Neuroma Madness!

21/08/2010 - The Wedding Journal

30/05/2010 - Running Free!!

06/05/2010 - Surprises Come In Podiatry Orthotics!!

15/04/2010 - Having Wheely Good Fun

22/03/2010 - Running Withdrawal

15/02/2010 - Swimming Towards Recovery

04/02/2010 - Help I’m Injured!