On Monday the 19th I went and saw Dr. Green, the podiatrist, and we talked about how to get me back on my feet so to speak. First and foremost I needed to stay off it as much as I could and if I had to walk I would have to use a walking cast or air cast.


Also, I couldn't do my job at the firehall to its full capacity so therefore had to go on light duties, mostly deskwork if possible. There's nothing worse as a firefighter than being stuck at a desk doing data entry all day. It's more tiring than I thought but I think it's the boredom. It's also a great motivator to get healthy again. When he finally got the actual pictures of the scan he sent me an email (which is cool because how many doctors actually send and receive emails from patients??) saying that the stress fracture is more "impressive" than he thought. I guess it REALLY lit up the film. It's located at the 3rd metatarsal and kind of radiates along the bone, making it "impressive".

So one problem solved. I've been in the cast for a week and a half and I think it's helping. The weird thing is that it actually feels better when I'm moving around and especially after water running or being on the eliptical trainer. Must be the increased circulation.
Dr. Green also told me about this ultrasound machine that I could get which supposedly heals stress fractures up to 33% faster. I said let's do it! He said they cost around $1500. I said, whoa, that's a little steep. He said that it's usually used on a person if a stress fracture is taking three or four months to heal and that insurance won't always pay for it unless this is the case. I said let's try anyways. So the next day I get a call from the company Smith & Nephew from back east asking for my medical insurance info. He calls Sunlife and then calls me back saying that Sunlife has given permission for me to use the Exogen Bone Healing Unit. Great I said. They'll only cover 80% of the costs he said. I'm thinking 20% of $1500 is still a little high for me to pay for something that'll eventually heal on its own. I'm not willing to pay $300 I said. Well the machine actually costs $3000 he said. Holy crap I said. I'm definitely not willing to pay $600 for this. Well then we'll cover the other 20% says the guy on the other line without skipping a beat. Sweet! So I've been using the bone healer for the past week which could also explain why it's feeling better.



I'm thinking Comrades may be a possibility!

The All-Knowing, All-Seeing Bone Scan

Okay so my self-diagnosis of a neuroma on my foot was mistaken. I guess it isn't possible to get a doctorate in podiatry just by surfing the net. It's good and bad because by the sounds of it a few cortisone shots for a neuroma would at least enable me to run and maybe get through the year (good). Then the winter would be a time to get proper treatment (bad - surgery, alcohol injections). As the bone scan yesterday showed, and a call from Dr. Green the podiatrist today confirmed, the bright white spot on my foot is indeed a stress fracture. What does this mean? It means that now instead of amputating just a toe or two, the whole foot has to go in order to make it to South Africa in six weeks. Alternatively I can stick to water running and biking right now. On Monday Dr. Green and I will discuss such prospects as amputation or casting or I don't know what else.
On the upside I've rediscovered my love for cycling and have a bunch of long rides planned in the next couple months whether my foot is better or not - Whistler, Mt. Baker, and Penticton are all in the cards.
On the down side I've rediscovered my hate of water running.
Thanks to all those who have shown me support and advice with what I'm going through. I'm pretty sure people could just have a form letter on their desktop to send me when I get injured, it's happening so often:

Darin,
Sorry to hear about your ___________ injury (insert latest malady here). Hope you get well soon, etc, etc.

I never get tired of the sympathy so keep it coming.

Update on the Foot

So Carrie remembered reading on Matt Hart's blog a few years ago that he had a foot problem similar to what I've been experiencing. He went through months of trial and error to get corrected and finally found out that he had Morton's Neuroma. I was at the sports doc again today with my x-ray knowing it would show nothing and it didn't disappoint. I did comment that on film it was a good-looking foot and he agreed - the bones looked healthy and strong. It didn't show the ligaments however. So I suggested it could be Morton's and he thought that's what it was as well. Off to the pharmacy to try a topical anti-inflammatory for the weekend. I have an appointment with a podiatrist on Monday to see what's next and if I should go with the nerve-killing alcohol injections. At this point I'm willing to have a lifetime of a numb toe to make it to Comrades and get back to running. For the experience of that race I want to be there, even if it's only to finish as the gates close behind me. I never thought that I would make that kind of decision but, hey, I've got nine more toes, right?

If There Was Only Someone Else to Blame

Yes, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone who's followed along here for any length of time that, amazing I know, I'm injured yet again. This one there's no hiding from. After not running much for three and a half weeks I guess I felt pretty good after the Dirty Duo and Chuckanut. Good enough to head out barefoot for 30 minutes two days after Chuckanut. Two days later I did another 25 minute barefoot stint. It was the second one where I felt like I had a slight bruise on the top outside of my left foot, almost like when your shoelaces are tied too tight. Not one to take a warning sign, I did a 2:30 run two days after that with no discomfort other than my legs felt like crap. Two days after that I did an hour in my racing flats and it was a bit painful, advil not helping. Tuesday I went out for 45 minutes in brand new regular-cushioned shoes and the advil didn't put a dent in the pain I was in. Okay something is definitely not right with me. Luckily I got in to see the sports doc, Dr. King, after my run on Tuesday and he sent me for x-rays yesterday. The tech there didn't see anything but my next appointment with Dr. King is on Thursday. There really is no rush because, fracture or not, I ain't running with it feeling this way. I guess the bottom line was too much barefooting too soon after not running for a few weeks. Weird because I'm not known to be one to overdo things. Really weird.
So it was to the pool yesterday for the first of probably many water-running sessions. 30 minutes felt like a long time but I know I need to do it. Luckily I can ride the bike without pain so I'm off for a three hour jaunt shortly. So after all this I can safely say that Diez Vista is out and probably the marathon as well. I have 8 weeks to be ready for Comrades so that's the focus.

Chuckanut '10 - 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th....

...what's the @#$!% difference. These were the words going through my head on the worst part, for me, of the Chuckanut Trail 50km. That seemingly endless 6 miles back to the finish after a 25 minute descent makes my feel like I'm moving through sand. I know last year I challenged myself to run this last section in a pace of 7 minutes/mile and accomplished it. This year, after a month of weird hamstring discomfort, I just wanted it to be over. It was here that I started in 15th place and thought, "Hey, I'd be happy with that". Until the first person passed me and now I'm thinking, "There is no glory to be found between 16th and 20th so I don't care if four more people pass me". And on I went.
This was my fourth edition of this race, still my favourite as I do quite a bit of training on it. It's the area I plan to run a lot on in the coming months to get ready for the longer trail races. The training will include long runs, night runs, and long night runs.
The day was so bright and warm it was easy to believe that spring was only a day away. Through the flat 6 mile beginning I felt pretty good, the hamstring not bothering me at all, possibly thanks to some pre-race advil. I re-filled my bottle and headed up the Fragrance Lake trail at the first aid station. Normally I can go up this without stopping and ended up only slowing twice this time with the legs quite comfortable chugging merrily (not quickly) upwards. When I hit the top I could tell there was some trail-training lacking. They were a bit jello-y and not feeling too peppy. After we passed the lake we descended into aid station 2 where I was glad I didn't need to refill the bottle for the long, arduous climb up Cleator Road. I managed this one without stopping but to the casual observer I'm sure my running looked like walking.
At the top of the road I grabbed more water, headed up a ways more to the start of the Upper Ridge Trail. This is usually my favourite area to train on and that's how fast I went on the path on this day - training pace. Not really too fast, just enjoying the warmth and the many views from up high. It also felt very non-race-like because there was no one else in sight in front or behind the whole way on the ridge. It wasn't until I started up the Lost Lake trail that I found and passed some folks. I think I only walked a couple times near the top of this trail before flying back down to the bottom of Chinscraper and aid station 4. Regrettably I had to fill up again at the worst possilble spot before this steep section. I did take the time to chug some coke in hopes of breathing life into my legs.
All the walking I didn't do before caught up with me and the steepest sections owned my running legs. I thought at some spots that I might as well run because walking wasn't going to help refresh my legs any and I wouldn't need rest for the long downhill to the flats. I still walked anyways.
I got to the bottom and through the last aid station without stopping and shuffled through to the finish. Four people passed me on the way in, the last one being two hundred metres from the finish when I was taking my shoes and socks off and ran BF across the line.
I was quite pleased when I later checked my previous results and found I was only 6 minutes slower than my personal best on this course. I tell ya, maybe I'm better off with very little training then hoping for the best during races. Should I sit on the couch from now until Diez Vista? Might be worth a try.

A Crazy Couple of Days

Okay so 36 hours ago I was still pretty bummed about the hammie and what my future looked like running-wise. Last night around dinner time I thought I'd try out the leg again and ended up doing almost an hour at about a 6:40 pace without feeling like it was overly hard. There were few issues from the injury so as I'm running, it hits me - I should try and do the Dirty Duo 25k that I was signed up to do but didn't think I was ready for. A measly 25k! How hard could that be?
I should say firstly that Carrie has been doing the clinic for the 25k for a couple months now and this was to be her first trail run. She was psyched (that she got a hoodie)!! She finished on a tough course on a tough day in a respectable 3:42 and looked like she missed every puddle through the day.





I meant for this run to be an "ease back into the swing of things" run and that's what I did. I took it slow on the ups, easy on the downs, and because the legs weren't feeling too strong, I took the flats easy. I felt like I hadn't run in the trails for a month. Wait a sec, I HAVEN'T run in the trails for a month.
It was the wettest, sloppiest, slipperiest run I think I've ever done in any trail any time. It was SO fun. The feet didn't get cold so I was happy to be jumping through the puddles like a little kid. I didn't care after trying to dodge the first hundred. I was really close to the end and I'd been running with someone for a while when I turned to him and said, "Not like I really care, but do you know what places we're in?". He said second and third. I wasn't in the mood for a sprint for second so I asked if he wanted to go barefoot once we hit the pavement, about a k from the end (and, no, he didn't think it was some sick come-on line). He laughed like I was crazy but I've heard that so many times before it didn't faze me. We came out of the trail and for the first time ever in a race I doffed the shoes and socks and took off.
The guy I was with took off, probably not thinking that I was going to follow through with my idea. As I was running close to the finish I heard some footsteps hammering behind me. I looked and it was Mike Palichuk whom we passed a few kms back. I thought he was out of the picture. I remember yelling, laughingly, "That's not fair, Mike!!", and I started sprinting downhill which ain't easy without shoes. I made it through just ahead of him but I was killing myself by the end knowing that I was running easy, yet sprinted at the end for no real reason.
It felt so good to be out in the woods again that the day flew by. To add icing to the cake I got home and my itinerary for Comrades was waiting for me in an email. Nice. One less thing to worry about.

Now off to Whistler where we try our hand at snowboarding!!

Once again....

....age is rearing its ugly head. 15 days ago I was running 23 miles and felt some discomfort in the back of my right thigh. I finished up and the next day felt like I had pulled a muscle in my groin and or hamstring. I could barely walk. It's been strange as there are good days and bad for the pain, the discomfort moves around somewhat, yet nothing I really do can make it painful. I can stretch in any which way - hams, quads, IT band, and nothing bugs it. Yet climbing a ladder or running makes it tighten up. I went to the doctor today and he said he doesn't know what it is so recommended a sports doctor or sports physiotherapy. I'm going to see Colin McKay, my ART dude, on Wednesday as he usually knows this stuff or will direct me to someone who does.
Bottom line I won't be doing the Dirty Duo 25k in two weeks and Chuckanut is very much in doubt. I was feeling so awesome up until two weeks ago it's pretty disappointing. I was even thinking the marathon was going to come together but missing all the workouts has probably written that off as well. Not much I can do, there always seems to be one thing or the other. I have to think long term now.