At this point in my life, I don’t get to watch many movies.   Since we have a screaming busy toddler running the house, it’s difficult to do anything that involves sitting and quiet.  However, I frequently find myself going back to an “old” movie, Forrest Gump (1994) for quotes that fit quite nicely into my life.  The quote that has been the forefront of my reality for longer than I’d like to admit is…… “My Feet Hurt”.  I can clearly see the scene with Forest sitting on the bench, waiting for the bus, and talking to the nurse telling her that “those must be comfortable shoes”…..and her quite simple reply being “my feet hurt”.  Simple.  True.  Powerful. 

Forrest Gump: Those must be comfortable shoes, I bet you could walk all day in shoes like those and not feel a thing.
Nurse at Park Bench: My feet hurt.
Forrest Gump: My momma always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they go, where they’ve been. I’ve worn lots of shoes, I bet if I think about it real hard I can remember my first pair of shoes.

If you have looked at my shoes over the last 6 months, you might think that I only own one pair.   Running shoes.  I have been switching my trainers with an identical pair of retired running shoes and I wear them from the time I get up until bed.  I have been fighting Plantar Fasciitis for quite some time and  previously posted on it HERE.  The fight has been tough because I don’t want to stop running lose fitness.  I have cut back on my mileage by quite a bit, running only about 20 miles a week since crawling to the finish of the Chicago Marathon in October.  I have even had further complications with Mr. Michael life and therefore had to cut back to a mere two or three runs a week.  I can’t seem to get him to sleep without his feet propped up on my throat or his head on my heart my presence.  Since I am now limited to such a few number of runs, I have been trying to keep each of those around the 10 mile mark so that I can at least hit 20 miles per week.  This new strategy has really inflamed the Plantar Fasciitis which had been starting to settle down a bit after the lab created these orthotics for me: 

I received them the first week of November and have been wearing them daily.  I am hoping the lab billed the insurance 2x or these babies are $600 each according the EOB from BCBS.   I haven’t paid a dime to the foot surgeon yet so that $$ reality is still looming.  I think he is waiting for me to jump up and down and say I feel great in order to send the shocker bill.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.  The left foot is good!  I really don’t have any further complaints there; however, I feel like I have an ICE PICK running thru my right heel and well, that would be a MAJOR complaint.  I’m limping, half walking on my toes, half floating……..I know you are trying to envision all of this but it’s really not as romantic as it sounds.  Quite awkward really.  And the hubby foot surgeon can’t really relate to running, or why I want to run and run long for basically no reason since I’m not currently training for anything.  Back to Forest Gump as my words would never be as eloquent……

[reporters ask Forrest his reasons for running all this time]
Forrest Gump: [voice over] They just couldn’t believe that somebody would do all that running for no reason.
Reporter: Why are you doing this?
Forrest Gump: I just felt like running.

And that’s exactly it.  I just FEEL like running………maybe because it is quiet, maybe because it allows me to feel at peace for a short time, maybe because it makes me feel like I am doing something good for myself, maybe because I can do it alone without any interruptions since I don’t even get to sleep or go to the bathroom shower alone. I don’t want to stop running and I certainly don’t want to have to rebuild my fitness from a prolonged break.  I have dug my way back from non-fitness land enough times to know that it sucks hurts.  Please, can we just fix this soon so that I can wear some pretty non-running shoes, run pain-free, walk pain-free in the days after a run and just feel good again?  I try not to be frustrated ,or bitch complain, but on days like today when friends are ALREADY talking about the 2012 Chicago Marathon, it makes me wanna cry. I struggled running 12 miles on Saturday and have basically been crippled/limping since I finished that run.  I can’t even contemplate more than that right now.  I think I’ll go back and reread the Baby Steps post and hopefully remember to think about today and not get overwhelmed by what the future may or may not bring.

Next week is a recheck to evaluate the “progress” I have made with the orthotics.  I think I am going to request the cortisone shot and take a week, or so, off to try to get this under control.  It hurts…..and that is an understatement. 

How do you handle injuries?  Do you bounce back fast of find yourself riding that injury train for a LONG time, like me. 

Happy, PAIN-FREE running!                                                                                           Amanda – TooTallFritz