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Stress Fracture in 2nd Metatarsal

Date:
By JP

And then tragedy struck...  Just when I was in my longest training weeks before tapering for GNW50K something in my left foot felt a little off.  There was a pain there that just wasn't normal.

My foot was a little sore after my Saturday long run but I didn't think much of it.  I still went for my Sunday recovery run of about 16km.  A few kilometres in things warmed up and felt good so I thought it mustn't be anything serious, which was good.  Cooling off later that day the dull pain was back and it was starting to really get my attention.  Hmm, let's see how Monday rest goes and then speed work on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning felt a little sore still but I decided I would do some speed work and just pull out if I needed to.  Once I warmed up the pain was gone and I got through my set fine so again, I thought, no dramas.  By Tuesday afternoon the pain was back and getting a little worse.  I was at that point I thought I'd better get it checked.

Wednesday afternoon it was off to my Physio who's also a long-distance runner so I deeply trust her professional advice.  She suggested it could either be a stressy like I thought or an inflamed joint between my metatarsal and tarsal.  In any case an MRI would give us an answer so I got in as early as I could on Thursday to check it out.

By Thursday afternoon the stress fracture in my 2nd metatarsal was confirmed.  Talk about hitting rock bottom!  Minimum 12 week recovery before I'm even looking at 15km a week.  That's a pretty big drop from 70-90km a week!  Let alone minimal steps for two weeks or I'm in a boot or crutches!

Thursday night I literally cried in my beer then got myself together along with a calendar and started plotting my triumphant return.  No time for wallowing in self pity!  Well, there's plenty of time but I'm just not going to do it!

Now I'm focused on getting through the next two weeks without a boot or crutches.  Time to behave and sit still, which isn't going to be easy...