Do as I say...

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who was debating whether or not she should do a 10 mile long run when her knee has been a little tender AND her longest run in a while was six miles.  My sage advice to her was not to do it, followed up with "the goal is to be able to keep running.  If you run the 10 and hurt yourself you won't be able to run at all".  Aren't I smart?  Such good advice I spew out...

On Wednesday I went out to do some speed training on this little route in my neighborhood.  The plan was to warm up for a mile and then do 2 mile repeats at around 7:00 pace with 1/2 mile jogs in between.  About 3/4 through my second fast mile I felt kind sharp pain in my foot.  REALLY sharp.  It hurt to run on it.   So, since you all know how wise I am you don't even have to ask what I did - I stopped, right?  Wrong - I finished the mile AND jogged another mile to cooldown and then limped my way back home.  Why?  Because that was what was on my schedule.  Now my foot pretty much just hurts period. 

I feel like banging my head against a wall.  NOT because I'm frustrated with the injury (well, partly because of that) but mostly because I am my own worst enemy.  Obviously, I should have stopped running when I felt pain - but if I'm really honest, I shouldn't have been running at all.  My foot wasn't 100% when I started.  I really shouldn't have even done my last two long runs.  I haven't had a completely pain free run in a while. I just want to run so badly I get through the runs and when they are finished I pretend like all is well. 

But, reality is smacking me in the face (or foot!), and I'm going to have to surrender to it.  I have a doctor's appointment set up for Monday where I'll get some xrays done to make sure I'm not dealing with anything else besides PF.  Then I'm fully prepared to hear - and I've even decided already - that I'm going to have to stop running for a while.  In my mind I've settled on hanging it up for a month, but we'll see what the Dr. says and go from there.

Anyone else find it ironic that I start a blog called "Just Keep Running" and promptly become unable to run?  Maybe I should rename it:  Just Keep {thinking about} running?  Just keep {pool} running? Suggestions are welcome! :)