Injury Scare

Sunday I awoke with a painful right foot, some swelling, and some redness, with the injury located in a joint between bones leading to the fourth toe, or in the bone itself.  This is forward of the Lisfranc joints.  Although I didn't feel any problem at all during Saturday's 10 miles of running, or afterward that day, the problem certainly arose during those runs.   Two possibilities:

• An overuse injury, caused simply by too much running; or
• An injury from a slight twist of my foot as I stepped into the post-hole-shaped hazard that I blogged about yesterday.

I certainly prefer the second choice, because I don't want to cut back on weekly mileage.

Don't you love fresh-fruit season?

Sunday (yesterday) I didn't run and didn't even walk any more than necessary for daily living in the house.  Sunday night I wore a wool sock to bed on that foot, because I believe that warmth promotes healing, especially in extremities which may otherwise function at lower temperatures than the body core.

Good news today!  The swelling and discoloration were less this morning, so the girls and I went out for a 40-minute run, and I went 3.19 miles with very little pain.  I can make it hurt by stepping on it wrong, but it seems almost fine doing straight-ahead running and walking on a flat paved trail.  This suggests to me that the injury is not from overuse, because that would likely affect body parts that are necessary for walking or running.

Therefore the injury was probably caused by the post-hole hazard.  It still could be a broken bone, but I don't think that would have improved so much overnight.  I'll continue to keep it warm and take great care when running on it, no grass trails for a while, and hopefully it will heal quickly.  Yesterday I had visions of my foot in a cast, but now I'm sure that won't happen.

The time for today's short run was 38:50, pace 12:10.  No hurry today.  It's sort of a masterpiece, close enough!