What To Do When You Can't Run?

Ah, the weekend is finally here. When I was younger I looked forward to the weekend to party. (I enjoy rockin' out to Loverboy's 80's hit Working For The Weekend) I look forward to the weekend because I have more time to run, workout, and focus on my health. Seeing that I have my last 5k coming up on Thanksgiving morning I was really looking forward to upping my distance by running longer. But as some of you have read on twitter, that wasn't a go today.

Why?
I go to bed later than the rest of my household. Before I go to bed I made it a habit to check on my son and plant a little kiss on his forehead. I did just that one night, but as I was walking out of his room I stubbed my 2nd and/or 3rd toe on his step stool. I hit it quite hard and it stung for a bit. 

Man, that hurt like a ___________ (you fill in the blank)!

I did a quick 10min run on the treadmill on Thursday night, and after the run it did feel a little sore. I wore shoes to work on Friday hoping that some cushioning would help it feel better.

I woke up this morning eager to run. I still felt a little soreness in my foot, but it wasn't bad. I warmed up with some drills at home, slipped on my Vibrams, and took off. There was a bit of dull pain so I continued on. Then the pain started to spread so I tried shifting my weight off the foot as much as possible, and even tried landing more on either side of the foot. Yeah, neither position was working. Darn it! I learned that instead of pushing through the pain I had to stop before it got worse. I ran for about .92 of a mile, then hobbled home with a huge frown of disappointment.

 Have you ever gone biking barefoot?

I was super bummed, but knew I couldn't go any further. After sulking, I decided I would continue with my workout plans today and switched gears to strength training. That did help me feel better. And since I didn't get to run much I went on a bike ride with the fam. That gave me the idea of riding tomorrow since I won't be able to run. I'll still get some activity in, which is better than moping around feeling bad about not running.

So for a good portion of the day I've been RICE'ing my foot. I went grocery shopping and my foot wasn't happy. I was so happy to get home, wrap up my foot with some Arctic Ease and elevate it. Let the RICE'ing continue.

ah - much better now.

What is RICE?
Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation
Read more about it here.


Good thing is that I can actually walk on it. But I am still a bit disappointed that I can't run. Anyone up for biking with me tomorrow?


Note to self: Be sure there is a safe path to walk through at night.