If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

Sometimes, I worry that I brag too much on this blog.

Sometimes, I worry that I bitch too much.

Sometimes, though, you just have to tell it like it is. And that’s what I’m doing today, readers, just telling it like it is.

Did I tell you that I started the coolrunning.com Couch to 5K program? I highly recommend it if you want to start running, but have no idea how to go about it. In fact, I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks, without changing anything except adding running (and walking) in, three times a week. Boy! Did I feel more energetic throughout the day on running days. Amazing. Imagine what I would have been like after 9 weeks of this.

Notice I said, “would have been.”

Despite stretching before and after running, despite purchasing running shoes and new cushioned athletic socks, despite wearing my Dr. Scholl’s gel heel cushions, and despite taking it slow, I have torn my plantar fascia again. (I did it about 5 years ago when I overextended doing a sidekick in taekwondo. Needless to say, that was the end of TKD for me.) You can see what a torn plantar fascia looks like here.

After a visit to my podiatrist (who remembered me after all these years – is that good or bad?), I now am banned from running, elliptical training, etc., for at least a month. She told me to go out and buy arch supports for my sneakers and to tape my arch in the Lodi method, every day, from the minute I step out of the shower to the minute I lay down to sleep:


Because really, what is sexier in the summer than seeing someone’s heel* in flesh-toned elastotape, right?

(No, my ankles aren’t really that fat, it’s just hard to take a good picture of one’s own foot while balancing on the other leg. Sheesh.)

I bought my way out of the depression that is seeing a fabulous exercise program (with all its potential for weight loss and muscle toning) go down the drain by buying myself a pair of sandals**:

Dansko sandals, it’s what the doctor ordered. (Really, dansko is the best shoe brand for someone with plantar fasciitis.)

*'Cause we all know how much I love attention on feet, right?

**I wasn't going to buy a pair of sandals this year, because there are better things to spend my money on right before we go off on sabbatical, a time when the Consort will be paid at 70% salary and we're moving to a high cost-of-living area.