My Left Foot

While not being nearly as dramatic as the film in which Daniel Day Lewis shined, the story of my own left foot is nonetheless tragic, in a comedic way. I guess that makes it a tragicomedy?

I rolled my left ankle while trying to find a dark spot in the trees to tinkle before the start of the 3M Half Marathon last Sunday. I'd been running consistently since September, slowly building my mileage and then sharpening my speed with basic speed work. I'd concentrated all winter on switching to a midfoot, high cadence style in the hopes of avoiding another femoral stress fracture. I did my long runs on trails and not on the concrete. I stretched or used the foam roller nightly. I changed my diet and lost nearly 10 lbs hoping to reduce the stress on my joints when running. I was doing steep hill sprints to strengthen the small muscles in my hips, and step-downs to strengthen the stabilizing muscles around my knees. I was in the gym twice a week all winter to strengthen my body from head to toe, improve my balance, and equalize the strength in both sides of my body. I read all sorts of books on running, nutrition, and training in general. In other words, I did EVERYTHING I possibly could to keep from getting injured.

And it STILL wasn't enough. My left ankle has a bone chip floating around beneath the skin. Apparently, the ligament didn't tear, but pulled a small piece of bone away from the top of my foot, instead. Better than a torn ligament, I guess, which would require surgery, but still a big pain. I probably made it worse by running 7 of the 13 miles.