Stress Reaction

The Diagnosis
After 5 weeks, 4 doctors, 3 x rays, and 1 MRI, the results are in.  They are determining my injury a "stress reaction".  Basically, the radiologist and 2 foot specialists reviewed the MRI and couldn't find an exact fracture site, just an area in the 4th and 5th metatarsals that had some edema, inflammation, and trauma.  If I continued running on it, eventually I would have a fracture in the bone. 

The Treatment
I'm supposed to stay off my foot for a week or so, and use crutches or a walking boot. It could take 6 days to heal, it could take 6 months to heal.  I'm allowed, and encouraged, to cross train.  Then, when I don't have pain walking in my normal shoes for a week or so, I can slowly start adding in running. 

The Cause
The foot specialist says he doesn't know what caused it.  I would love to know the reason so I know how to prevent it in the future.  Since my training has been legit (NOT too much, too soon) and my diet is healthy and well-balanced, the dr speculates that when I had the pain in the ball of my foot, I may have altered my gait.  This may have put undue stress on the outside of my foot, hence my 4th and 5th metatarsals. 

The Good
It is encouraging that there isn't a broken bone.  Which means it should heal faster than a normal stress fracture (6 weeks).  I've also been running for 33.5 years without ANY type of foot pain or injury.  Hopefully this is a one-time fluke and not a regular occurrence. 

The Bad
As previously stated, the doctors and myself don't really know exactly what "this" is, and what caused it.  Therefore, it's hard to prevent it from happening again. 

Phoenix Marathon Race Recap

Marathon #3 is in the books. 

After my foot scare and getting the green light to run, the big worry going into race day was the weather.  All along we had planned on running in sun and heat.  Two storms were headed our way though and there was a 100 percent chance of rain for the Valley of the Sun.  And 15 mph winds.  I was pretty nervous, but then remembered that we have done all of our training in northern Arizona, where wind is an everyday occurrence.  And, who can forget when we ran 12 miles in the freezing, pouring rain on the day of the Christmas Parade?

The night before was very uneventful; drove to Phoenix, made a quick stop at the expo, carbo loaded at Olive Garden, went to the Gilbert house and laid out race stuff, and in bed by 8:30.  I think I slept pretty good until 2:30.  Then I was tossing and turning until my alarm went off at 3:45.  We left the house at 4:15 in time to get on the bus that takes all the runners to the start line at Usery Mountain Pass.

Usery Mountains photo courtesy Arizona Oddities

As the full marathon runners were loading the buses, some guy asked, "Is this the the bus for the fun run?".  Then as we were getting off in the middle of nowhere in the dark and wind, another guy said, "Are we at six flags?"  We had a few good laughs and lightened up a bit after that.  On the twenty minute ride to the start I ate my banana bread and banana and drank a bottle of water.  We hit up the port-a-potties right away, then found a place to sit down to get our wardrobe and gadgets finalized.

 
At this point it started to rain!  We dropped our gear bags off, put on our trash bag ponchos, visited the port-a-potties one last time, and made our way to the start line.  Just as we found the 3:45 pacer the cannons shot off and the race started. 

Miles 1-4 were downhill and easy peasy.  I said adios to Larissa after the first mile and settled in with the 3:45 pace group.  It rained for about the first 20 minutes, but I didn't mind.  It was a nice distraction.

Miles 5-6 were uphill, but I stayed on with my pace group and had a GU.  I couldn't believe how fast it was going by. 

Miles 7-10 I was loving life!  I was so happy to be running and felt great.  I ate half of my PowerBar and was still with the 3:45 pace group.

Miles 11-15 I started noticing some ball of foot pain and it was getting uncomfortable to run.  Not good.  As I passed the half marathon point I checked my watch, 1:51.  Not bad!  I finished my PowerBar and hoped the pain would go away like it did on my 20 miler a few weeks ago.

Miles 16-20 were into a headwind and now the top of my foot started hurting too.  I took another GU and knew my goal time of 3:45 was slipping away. 

Miles 21-25 I was miserable, wincing, and limping. I promised I would drop out as soon as I saw Jason or a medical tent.  But I saw neither and I didn't have a cell phone with me so I just kept trudging along.  I alternated between walking and jogging. 

Mile 26 I was in a sad and pitiful state, but when the 4:00 pace group came up behind me I said, "Oh heck no, not again!" and started running as fast as I could all the way to the finish line. 

I finished in 3:58.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked around the finishing line looking for medical help or Larissa, but could find neither so I did the worst possible thing for my muscles and sat down in a chair.  When I took off my shoe and saw what I had done, I started sobbing.



 

Just then Larissa walked up to me and immediately left to get medical help.  The people all around me were freaking out that my foot was broken and offered me ice and Advil.  They brought me a wheelchair to get to the medical tent and that was the most embarrassing thing ever.  How can I possibly run 26.2 miles but need a wheelchair to go 30 feet?  A doctor examined my foot and recommended I get an x-ray.  They gave me some ice and sent me on my way. 

 

I wish I had a different ending to this story.  My training partner (who did every single run with me for 18 weeks) ran a 3:34 and qualified for Boston; I limped across the finish line and may never run again. 



 

4th Metatarsal Stress Fracture?



Things were going just as planned during the taper.  I hadn't experienced any more ball of foot pain on any of our runs for the past two weeks.  Tuesday morning I set out for a 3 mile tempo run.  The pace was fast and easy, and I was well rested. 

 

About a mile and a half into it, I felt a pretty strong pain in my foot.  I want to say it was in the top and the bottom and just all around, but it's really hard to even describe where it was.  It hurt bad enough that I considered stopping right there, but being a mile and a half from home I decided to keep running.  I was slowing considerably and wincing by this point, and the pain certainly was not getting any better.  Another mile into it and I couldn't go any longer.  Unfortunately, at this point even walking hurt.  I limped home and was making some moaning/crying sounds.  As soon as I got in the house I took off my shoe and noticed some bruising on the top of my foot going into my 4th toe.  Not to mention it hurt like heck.  Not good.   

 

 

 

This was the first time since I experienced ball of foot pain a few weeks ago that I wore my Newtons.  I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but it seems like they put more pressure on the balls of your feet.  Maybe not my smartest move regarding running shoes? 

 



 

 From my research on metatarsalgia, I knew that bruising on the top of the foot likely meant a stress fracture.  I iced and elevated for the rest of the day and made an appointment with a podiatrist for the next day.  I sent Larissa a text that said, "Have fun running the marathon by yourself."  I don't think she believed how serious it was.

 

The xray didn't show any signs of a stress fracture, but the dr said it probably wouldn't show up for a few weeks when it starts to heal.  (So what was the point of the xray?)  He also said there was a small chance it could be from a broken blood vessel and that I could still run the marathon in ten days.    

 

 

With how much pain I've been in, I highly doubt that.  It's been a constant ache since it happened. 

 

I'm supposed to take a test run in a few days to see if it hurts again, and honestly, I'm gun-shy and don't know if I even want to try.