I ran one mile today. It didn’t feel good. Normally my plantar fasciitis is pretty bad in the mornings, but once I start running and it warms up, I feel ok. Today, however, was different. I ran down my dark driveway and turned left. I noticed that I was still running on my tiptoes at just over half a mile in. My heels were still too sensitive to touch the ground. I slowed to a walk, frustrated. I had planned to run for one hour, not 4 minutes.
After walking a little further, I insisted on completing at least one mile. I ran the remaining .47 of my mile and walked again. I headed home, looking around at the dark morning and thick fog. I took deep breaths and convinced myself that an early morning walk was better than not moving around at all.
I’ve been icing every day, but clearly not resting enough. As you all know as fellow runners, resting through an injury is the worst. We are tempted to push through, convincing ourselves that the injury is not severe enough to sideline us. We also know, however, how that can go. Running through an injury has the ability to keep us off our feet for far longer than we anticipated.
So as I sit here writing this, I am icing my plantar fasciitis again and convincing myself to rest more. I feel antsy just writing those words. Rest more. Bleh. Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym for strength and cross-training (resting completely is unbearable, right?!) But friends, please send me your advice: how can I rest through this injury without going crazy? How can I speed up the healing of my plantar fasciitis?
