Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Busted by Thomas the Tank Engine.

It must be race week, because I'm full of nerves and worries about setbacks.

My latest? Well, on top of the blisters, I now have a busted-up toe. Here's how it happened:

My 4-year-old loves Thomas the Tank Engine. And he loves to read books about Thomas, especially before bed. So, last Thursday he wanted to read this one:


It's a large hardcover. Conal was fooling around on the edge of his bed, holding the book in his hand, telling me he wanted me to read it. I was sitting nicely on the seat next to his bed. My foot was planted flat on the floor.

He dropped the book. And the bottom edge landed square on the joint of my right big toe:


If you've been with me for a while, you'll know that that particular joint of that particular toe is trouble. I have a bunion (as you can see in the pic) and arthritis in the joint (from the bunion, according to the foot doc) leading to limited mobility in that toe. Add in the minor plantar fasciitis that I have in that foot and my running health is a very delicate balance

One little thing and that balance can be thrown off so completely and then it's all doomsday, all the time.

Which is what is going on right now. 

I didn't run for 3 days after Thomas the Tank Engine busted my toe. On Sunday, I had to try it out for what was a planned 7-miler. I ran 7.72 miles at a 9 min/mile pace and the toe hurt the whole time. I was able to more-or-less ignore the pain and tell myself that it was really too bad that someone's foot was hurting -- good thing it wasn't mine!

Post-run? Pain. I iced and elevated. Monday, I iced. Today, I'll ice. I wish I could elevate but with two kids that's not easy. It's hard enough to work in the icing time.

Please, please, please let this toe heal before Sunday! 

My plan right now is to test it out on Thursday, after the toe has had a good bit of time to heal. Then, we'll see. I have no plans to sit out the race, because I've run through pain before and I know I can do it. So, I will just have to see how much pain I'll have to run through this time.

Until then, I'll worry. And ice. And try to distract myself by obsessively checking Sunday's weather.

Have you ever had a bad injury right before a race only to run well on race day? 
Let me know -- I need some confidence boosting!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice



13 comments:

Unknown said...

uh oh. hope the toe gets well quickly! who knew that thomas the tank engine was so violent...hehehehe

Cécy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Last spring I pulled on my hamstring and knee not long before a race. I rested but then went back to running. I made it fine on race day, but occasionally that knee still acts up. I think the hardest thing is to know when it's really time to stop.

Aubrie said...

How do you keep your feet so pretty!? My toes are all black and blue and crusty from running (overshare? I apologize..) What's your secret?

Felice Devine said...

It's the dark nail polish. It hides all :-)

Quix said...

Oh no! Hope the tootsies feel better soon! Sending healing thoughts your way...

I got my 5k PR while nursing some major heel pain. I rested the whole week before, and had to rest the whole week after, but for the race, I just flew.

macnic said...

I run with sore knees all the time, but never something as bad as the toe! You know, Thomas strikes me as a whiner at the best of time, who knew he was violent as well? :-P Good luck!

Laura said...

Oh dear...this is so something that would happen to me. Heal up fast!

Marlene said...

Yikes! Of all the things to cause a problem!! I hope it feels better QUICK!

Lindsay said...

Oh my goodness!! Thomas the Tank should be banished! ;)

I hope it clears up and feels good for race day! I have rolled my ankle and banged my knee the night before a race, hang in there!

Katie @ Will Race for Carbs said...

I've never liked Thomas, here is just another reason why!

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

A while back, I hurt my foot. I stood at the marathon start not knowing if I'd be running even one mile. I finished the whole race, slowly, but I finished!

Hope you heal quickly!

Suzy said...

I didn't know that Thomas could be so dangerous! I hope your toe feels better this weekend.

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