Last night I hit the 400 mile mark in my 100 mile iPad mini challenge.  Sadly I was not running triumphantly through a park or jogging confidently on the treadmill as I hit this milestone, though.  Nope, instead I was cross-training on the old beat up elliptical in my garage because my left foot hurts too much to run.  Boo!

After running the Run-A-Muck 5K on Saturday, September 21st I felt AWESOME!  Empowered by the completion of my first adult distance race I was unstoppable and super motivated to run, run, RUN!  And so I ran like crazy:

…on Sunday Matt and I ran 6 miles at Valley Forge National Park,

…on Monday before work I ran 2 miles on the treadmill,

…on Monday after work Bailey and I ran the 4.3 mile loop at Ridley Creek State Park in 38 minutes (a new record!!),

…on Tuesday after work Matt, Bailey and I ran the 4.3 mile loop at RCSP again, this time in 40 minutes.

Then I got home on Tuesday night and said, what the heck, I’ll run another mile on the treadmill, just for fun!  And that’s when I realized that the outside bottom of my left foot really REALLY HURT!  Uh oh…

Bailey was my running buddy during back-to-back days of Ridley Creek loops. I had her secured to me with a waist leash and I think she pushed me (or pulled me, actually) to run a little too fast for my own good!

Ignoring the stabbing, cramping pain in my foot, I woke up early on Wednesday and ran 2 miles on the treadmill before realizing that I might actually be injured.  I then did some internet-aided self diagnosis and determined that I am likely suffering from Peroneal Tendonitis.

In short, Peroneal Tendonitis means that the tendons that go around the back of my ankle bone down along the outside of my foot are inflamed and irritated.  This is apparently a classic “overuse” injury which makes perfect sense considering I ran over 20 miles in 4 days of 5K-induced euphoria.  Oops!

My Peroneal Tendonitis (or whatever it is) was causing some pretty intense pain along the outside of my left foot last week, so much so that I realized that it would be stupid to keep trying to run through it.  I had previously had a 4+ mile a day (walk, hike, or run) streak going since July 23rd but that came to an abrupt end last Wednesday.  On Thursday I slowly limped my way out to the old elliptical that we retired to the garage after getting our treadmill and I’ve been cross training on that all week.  😦 At least I’ve been able to keep my 1 mile a day streak going – yesterday was day 94 of that.

In addition to logging some quality time on the elliptical I’ve also been icing like a fiend (even under my desk at work!), and taking Ibuprofen.  My foot is feeling significantly better now but I am a little nervous about running.  I might start out with a really slow jog on the treadmill in the next day or two and see how that goes…

Here’s the official tally for this week.  Not quite what I wanted, but hopefully by my next post I’ll be back to running!

Miles since last post:  41.8
Days since last post:  12
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 5.23
TOTAL MILES: 403.0

Related Posts:
•  Run-A-Muck 5K (9/22/13)
•  300 miles and a 5K in my future (9/9/13)
•  200 miles!  (8/26/13)
•  100 Miles in 21 Days! (8/7/13)
•  100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go! (7/29/13)
•  The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge (7/23/13)