The following day after my first Half Marathon I can honestly say that I did not really feel the pain in my foot. No my legs hurt too much to notice! Going down the stairs was particularly a killer. I found going down on my bum helped but apparently backwards also does the trick. My thighs especially were killing but this was actually quite short-lived. Once that subsided I could feel my foot aching so again thought I would treat it to some ice treatment.
Why my ice treatment was wrong
I do not know why I only consulted my friend Google once the damage had been done and not beforehand but I did. When treating yourself with ice there are a couple of things to make sure you do not do!
- Do NOT put the ice directly on your skin!
- Do NOT treat for more than 20 minutes at a time.
So you can see that directly rubbing my foot on ice for at least an hour at a time was bound to end in tears! I probably got off very lightly and was lucky as things could have been much worse – but I got a huge blister all under my foot. I could not put my foot down (and again meant I did not really notice the plantar fasciitis!) A couple of my toe nails also went black and I have since got more blisters around my foot. Once the big blister subsided (as it is still there just flatter) the pain from the PF turned up a notch. I bought an extra lining thing to put in my shoe and am resting a lot more.
My Family and Running
I hope I inspire others but particularly my family. Health is so important. I am so proud of how much they are coming along. The 9 year old has asked to do a Triathlon instead of a special trip to the cinema; our youngest has tried so hard at Parkrun that he ran the whole thing without anyone holding his hand and got a new personal best of 30 minutes and eleven seconds.
Exercise since the Half Marathon
It has been really frustrating not to run and so I did go to running group this week and just go with the beginners group. They were on week five and doing amazingly well and running much more than I expected. It did however help show me how far I have come since the days when I had to keep stopping and scratching my legs. I also very slowly (for me) did Parkrun – despite the fact I had been out drinking until 1am and felt rough as! I actually think it did me the world of good. As I really need to rest my feet I bought some weights – nothing heavy but just something to keep some of me more active. I know I ought to go swimming but the times are so rubbish (over lunchtime) that it just really doesn’t suit me. I cannot believe how much I am itching to have my foot back so I can exercise! My physio appointment for the hospital is in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed.