This past week was a killer week – not in terms of training but in terms of just sheer volume of commitments and activities.  I had my 84 year grandfather in town, my mom in town, my 5 year old’s preschool graduation, my 3 year old’s preschool orientation, my daughters normal 8 hours of dance each week, dance pictures, a dance recital, and to top it all off the last soccer game for my son to coach.  So you might expect that I was not able to get in a normal week of training due to the schedule but you would be wrong.  I didn’t get in a normal week of training but it really had nothing to do with all the other activities.  As much as it pains me to say – I think I am going to have to admit that I am injured again.

As of tomorrow it will have been one week since I last ran.  That may not seem like a big deal but that is the longest I have gone without running since last Thanksgiving.  A week ago last Saturday I met the normal group for a quick trail run before I had the soccer games and the rest of the crazy weekend schedule.  This is a trail we have all ran multiple times before. However Tim went down within the first mile and was able to just roll, and then Kendall went down right after we crossed the first mile and fell hard on a rock.  His wrist immediately swelled up pretty badly.  Needless to say we were all a little more cognizant of the rocks at this point.  Within the last mile of the run though, I was on a quick little downhill and rolled my ankle pretty good… not badly enough that I fell, but enough that I turned the air blue when it happened.  I kept running and finished up the run without much complaint, especially after seeing Kendall’s wrist after we got back… it was getting much bigger.  It turns out Kendall actually broke his wrist when he caught himself on the rock.

The rest of the day I was limping around thinking it was just a simple ankle roll.  Sunday and Monday I still was walking with a limp, but by Tuesday I was able to walk without noticing it much and I was itching to go for a run so I asked Devra if she could meet on Wednesday morning for a run.  Turns out I should have probably waited another few days.  I started out limping on the run but fully expected it to loosen up after I got going.  By the 2 1/2 mile mark it was aching with every step I took and the limp was much more noticeable.  At this point I even thought I might just walk back but since I had talked Devra into meeting me there I didn’t want to bail out.  I ended up finishing up the 5 1/2 mile loop but by the time I got back I could hardly walk on my right foot.

For the rest of last week it didn’t seem to get any better.  The weird thing is that when I get up in the mornings, it does seem to feel somewhat better,  but after I get to walking on it it starts swelling on the outside ankle and just behind the ankle.  By mid-afternoon it is starting to ache and by bedtime it is throbbing and hurting along the outside edge of the bottom of my foot as well.  So I figured it must just be that I didn’t give myself time to heal from the ankle roll and needed a few days off again.  That was last Wednesday and I haven’t ran since then.  The frustrating and concerning thing is that it doesn’t seem to be getting any better in the past week with no running.

So now I am starting to worry.  It is not swelling like an ankle sprain/roll has in the past and there is no bruising around it.  The area right behind the ankle bone has a very noticeable knot that is sensitive to the touch and swells throughout the day.  I had told myself that if it wasn’t better by yesterday morning I would make an appointment with the sports doc.  As luck with have it, he couldn’t get me in yesterday and I had to wait until tomorrow to get in.

My lovely ankle

At this point I have no idea what is wrong.  I have googled everything I can think of around this subject and get all kinds of issues that might be the culprit. None of them are anything I want to mess with since they all say that I would need to be off of it several weeks.  The closest thing I can see that matches up is Peroneal Tendinitis.  There are apparently a couple of tendons that run right behind the ankle that connect to the bottom of the foot and it is somewhat common after an ankle sprain for these to be come inflamed.  I don’t know… sounds like it might be it but who knows.  The only thing I know for sure is that I am going batty without being able to run.  I know it has only been a week but it seems like I have totally given up running.  My major concern is that I don’t want to lose any of the progress I have gained in terms of distances and pace over the past 5 months.  It finally seemed like I was really making progress and actually running without any issues or pains.

At this point, as I mentioned before on my post before seeing the doc on my meniscus issue – all I can do is wait and hold my breath hoping for good news.  Hopefully I will have a post tomorrow evening that outlines just that – a plan for a quick recovery and to be back out running in the next week or so.  Until then I will just mope and feel sorry for myself.