say what?!?

While I was certainly getting into the groove of running after my first half-marathon, I definitely needed to understand the source of pain in my knee and foot. 

After seeing a foot specialist, I wasn't thinking there was major concern considering he said it was just joint inflammation from increasing my mileage. Well, after the half-marathon, my knee was hurting beyond belief so I went to see a Sports Medicine Internist at the Running Institute. He thought it was an alignment issue and put me in physical therapy to work on my hip strength, which would allow my knee and foot to align better and not cause compensation issues on my right side with how I was landing and adjusting. 

All was good, until I needed to get an x-ray cause my foot was still hurting quite a bit. The radiologist saw a lot wrong, including the very fun term BONE DEATH. Seriously. Avascular Necrosis is the technical term. I had  broken my third metatarsal 17 years ago, playing soccer. Someone stepped on it with a cleat, and it fractured. Well, that never healed properly and now my bone is dying, which means it's chipping apart in my foot. 

The result...surgery. And no more running. I had signed up for two more half marathons this summer after I was told it was a hip strength issue. No biggie. I'll get some strength in that hip and rock 'n roll. Yeah, not. 

So I am getting surgery on June 14th to remove the bone and whatever else is in there just floating around causing me so much pain. The good news, I will feel 100%. The bad news, no running for probably a year. Me and the pool are going to get real close. Cause I must work out. I do not want to lose the cardio shape I'm in right now. 

It's discouraging for sure, but I'm thankful that there is a source of the pain and it can be fixed. Will it be a pain in the ass? Yes, considering he wants me to take off 6 weeks of work and it will be hard to get around. The foot is a pain in the ass cause you're always on it, so I think it takes a bit longer to heal. I'm hoping my body is a master healer and the recovery is faster than we think. Although, I do know that running is not in my near or distant future. I'm okay with that cause I'll get right back to it, the second he says I can start. 

I think I need to start making a list of books to read, websites to browse, magazines to have on-hand, etc....I will be BORED out of my mind!!!