Shortly after my last blog post, way back in September, I ran to work one morning and by the end of the commute, a mere 8 miles along roads, I was in absolute agony. There was a dull throb in my left foot and after a few hours, I could hardly walk. I went to my GP a couple of days later who confirmed what I suspected – Plantar Fasciitis. No more running for a while – rest and recuperation. That was at the beginning of October.

I haven’t been doing a very good job of it to be honest. The reason I suspect this has come on is because of tight muscles and as I keep going on about this and about how I need to stretch and foam-roll and restore the balance to my legs, you’d think I’d have got it sorted. But I haven’t. And I don’t. And I really, really should. Bad Traildragon! So I’ve only got myself to blame and my cross-country season has been all but written off.

What surprised me on further reading was that Plantar Fasciitis is an extremely common complaint and not just in athletes and runners. Apparently 1 in 4 people will suffer it at some point. I know I’m not alone: Tom Goom, a Brighton based runner and physiotherapist wrote about treating ultrarunner Jody Raynsford’s PF. I should probably get my foot properly assessed to see if I can determine what the exact causes are – I have problems with my right leg but rarely with my left so for it to go so suddenly and without warning means something isn’t right. I suspect it’s my running shoes which are getting a little beyond their best-by date.

On a side note, when I went to my GP I said one of the reasons I went in was because I wanted to be sure it wasn’t anything more serious, like a chipped bone. His response was “How can that be? What on earth do you think can get chipped?” Reading Tom’s post, the first thing he does is to rule out “a calcaneal stress fracture (stress fracture of the heel bone)” – so I wasn’t wrong in wanting to rule out skeletal damage. I should trust my instincts more!

So, there we are – my latest diatribe about my continuing ailments. As I don’t have much running to write about at the moment, I’m going to have to think about some other topics to discuss instead. Hmmm… I wonder how long I can keep the seasonal themed titles going?