being nice to my feets

I still hurt. I still hurt to a decent degree of suckiness. I still feel pain when I walk. It's all my stupid calf's fault.

I got a massage yesterday morning that made me cry. I was told that I could probably benefit from another massage very soon, but I have to figure out if I can financially swing it. I've spent money this weekend like it was going out of style. (More on that in a minute!) I have to see if my HSA will actually cover it. However, it did feel like it loosened up a lot of everything in there, including parts of that leg that I didn't realize were so tight.

But post-massage, it still hurt to walk. I went to a running store (not my usual, but a place where I had a coupon) to look at shoes. It hurt like a biotch to run in the shoes I was trying on. I also felt not really listened-to by the employee and I ended up not buying anything and walking out crying because I am just awesome. I will probably never go to this store again because they now think I'm insane. So let me know if anyone wants a coupon for $15 off shoes. The shoes she told me I should get are made to correct an outward-rolling foot. Let's clarify this: my foot rolls outward because my orthotic makes it roll outward. So then I need shoes to correct the problem that the orthotics create. Does that make sense to anyone but that running store employee?? Also, the shoes she wanted me to buy were fugly.

I almost just went the f home to cry and sleep, but I need new shoes, so I went to the running store that I USUALLY go to. After having another mini-emotional breakdown when I told the guy that I can't quite remember my last pain-free run, I was helped. I was totally helped. If he thought I'd lost my damn mind, he didn't show it. Long story short, I got the hookup - BETTER orthotics. The doc-recommended ones have a super high, hard arch support that was pushing my foot up and over. I don't have arch issues at all. I was told I don't even pronate *that* badly, although I do pronate and now is a bad bad time to explore any minimalist shoe dreams. After much analysis, I ended up with a pair of saucony rides (neutral shoes) and softer, less extreme orthotics. And the orthotics? They gave me the sample pair for free after they realized they didn't have my size in stock. The shoes have pink and black accents and are cute, too. And I tried THE STICK for the first time. How had I not discovered this piece of magic?? Oh yeah, because it's $35 for what's essentially a piece of plastic and I'm cheap. But holy crap - he told me to try it while he hunted me down some shoes and that thing is AMAZING. I am now regularly sticking the injury and finding some relief. I would've paid $200 after I tried it.

If I can run pain-free and not need the compression sleeves and tape and pre-run aleve and I can increase mileage and do speedwork and hills I will owe this guy my soul and my firstborn child.

Oh yeah, I WAS wearing the right shoe size but it's a very close fit, so I ended up trying and getting a half size bigger. Your feet swell when you run long distances, around 2 hours or over. Makes sense, hadn't thought of it. That's why I lose toenails, and I lose them on the foot that's a hair bigger than the other one. He also said I should swim because my feet are straight, like flippers. I suppose the fact that they're a whopping size 9 only helps!

They call me Flipper, Flipper....

So I felt way better after that. Then I met up with my bestie for a pedicure! I figured doing something nice for my feet would get me some good karma with them. She picked out the polish that I have on in that pic, btw, and the woman at the salon did NOT recoil at my lack of toenails. Actually, she did a great job of faking it by painting the little nub that's left on the one toe and the thin bottom layer left on another. And we got the cold gel and the hot stones and the hot towels and the massage, and I realized that the left calf was STILL super freaking tight despite the massage therapist spending nearly the whole hour on it earlier. Yeesh.

So I'm still bummed about the calf thing, but feeling better after being so daggoned nice to myself. This is only temporary, this is only temporary....

Then of course, my final post-marathon indulgence appears in the post below. <3 my turtle!!