X-rays and MRIs

This morning was my follow-up x-ray to see how my stress fracture has healed. I showed up, and my PA showed me images from the MRI. Terrifying. As he pointed out, the bones of my leg and forefoot were black in the MRI image, but the area around my heel was all white due to fluid and inflammation. In an alternate view, the bones were white except for a jagged black line that seemed to separate my heel from the rest of my foot. That, he told me, was the stress fracture. It looked so severe and huge, and reminded me how strange that I wasn't in pain at all when the MRI was done.


So, a quick x-ray was on the docket for today. I was seated on a table and two x-rays were taken, one from the side, and one from the sole of my foot.


Within minutes I was back with my PA, and he was pointing out the white smudgy line indicating that my heel was healing.


"BUT," he said, "It takes 3 months to totally heal. You're looking good, so you can start to walk to work again, but a week or two more on the elliptical is in order, and then you can start running."


So it should look like this: 2 more weeks on the elliptical. Then slowly running a mile, then taking the next day off to see how it feels. Stay at 1 mile runs for a week or two, then increase to 1.5 mile runs.
I'm thinking that I'll start the Running101 podcast from week 4 after a week more on the elliptical, and I'll do it on a treadmill. (refresher: week 4 is four intervals of four minutes running at an easy pace, with recovery walks in between. I'll do the podcast for a few weeks on the treadmill, then switch to outside.


And new shoes. Any suggestions? I pronate slightly, and need extra support for my heels. Thoughts? I'm open to anything.

One week countdown

That run was a mistake. Not that I had any physical repercussions, but that I was not not not supposed to go for it. Later in the morning I got a phone call from my PA, saying "call me back immediately, and don't run." The results were in by 9am, and they were important enough to call first thing. Stress fracture in my left heel. Though there's no pain (and there's been none since, it's only started to heal.

One week until my follow-up x-ray to determine that my heel has healed (the healing is visible in an x-ray, but the fracture is only visible in an MRI). One week until I'm told "good to go" and get back to running, or am delayed even further. It's been more than two months, and I'm pretty sure I've lost all my fitness. The day after my MRI, when I took a two mile run, I felt it in my legs for a few days. And then to be told "don't run, whatever you do." No hiking! No dancing! No jumping! Along with running, those are three of my favorite things! To compensate, I go back to the gym. Yesterday I did some squats and lunges while holding weights, and whoo, my thighs. They hurt.

I miss my running body! As a female with a history of body issues, I really developed a new relationship with my body having run. I appreciated my body more, because this is the body that lets me run. I need it, I take care of it, I love it, and it loves me back by running, and telling me what it can and cannot take. I felt much more connected to my body. Not having run in two-plus months, I'm critical again. I'm thinking about the scale. I'm thinking about food as calories that need to be counted, as opposed to fuel that helps me run and tastes good.

I miss being able to get out there, listen to music and be mindful of the moment. I'm still on the look-out for good running songs, and find my taste in music has changed a lot since starting to run. I want things that have a good beat. That are peppy. I've started to shy away from the sad man with his guitar. Unless it's runable. My standards are flexible. Fleet Foxes are okay for running. My goodness, "Helplessness Blues"? Ran to it. "The Bad in Each Other" off of the new Feist album (not a man, obviously)? Ran to it. But oh, the newest Iron & Wine? No thank you. Not yet.

I'll get back out soon. Sooner than later, I hope hope hope.