A foot injury appears to have ended my marathon chances this Saturday
 

I felt something tear in the bottom of my right foot on Sat. the 1st shortly after my 10 mile run that day. I iced and ibuprofened the heck out of it until the 5th and was pain free walking. I tested it on the evening of the 5th and was pain free until mile 1.5 when I had to stop because I felt that same tearing pain. I iced, ibuprofened and tested again today. Pain free until mile 2 at which point the tearing feeling returned suddenly and I had to stop and walk back.

I am so frustrated. I was ready, and now I can't make it 2 miles. Part of me wants to go do it and just destroy my foot. But the sensible part of me says to pack it in and try again at the local marathon in January.

Wow, I am so sorry. You and bluegoose are bumming me out with these frustrated marathon attempts.

January isn't that far away.

That's awful, Steel! How disappointing! Hope you heal up soon.

That is absolutely horrible. Whatever you do, don't go and run it. It's not even close to worth it. You'll most likely end up having to catch the sag wagon, and you'll be even more depressed than you are now because you'll consider yourself a quitter. Wait until January.

You may not feel like doing it, but I'll bet the organizers would love your help as a volunteer. You'll still get to be in on the race day vibe, even though you can't run.

No, I'm back in form again. My last 5 or 6 runs have been pain free. As long I keep my pace under control, my hip feels great. No sign of shin splints in about 4 weeks. Foot neuroma still bothersome, but nothing too serious. I'm hoping things are okay this weekend.

But it is a true bummer about Steel. He was going to pace me all the way to the finish, and now I'm afraid I'm going solo. And oh yeah, it sucks for him too. I would love it if he could pull it off, but realistically its a real long shot at this point.

How some people can always run fast almost injury free and some of us never stay injury free is beyond me. Just one day I'd like to run well in a triathlon. Just once.

Sorry about the injury Steel, that sucks. Get well soon, and don't rush it; that stupid mistake I have done, and I don't recommend it.

Man that sucks bad. Sorry to hear that.

Don't hurt yourself worse than you already are.

Steel, have you decided whether you're going to run yet?

I am testing it out tomorrow morning on the advice of a marathoner MD who kindly listened to my story. He said I should try to do 4 easy on Fri am and if I'm pain free to go ahead and try the marathon. He said if I hurt at all in those 4 miles to absolutely not run it. He said something like any little ache/pain you have at the start of a marathon will be multiplied by 10 at the end.

I'm not too hopeful. The last two times I've tested it, it's failed at the 2 mile mark. It's pain free walking around, and for the first 2 miles I get all excited thinking it's gone but then I feel the whole arch start to fatigue and then a sudden (within 30 seconds of that fatiguing arch feeling) tearing pain just in front of the heel. It feels like a hot knife. The doctor told me that it's not plantar fasciitis but sounds to him more like a tendonitis.

Well, good luck with whatever you decide to do. I've been fortunate to have never incurred an injury right before a race, but I can imagine the frustration.