Sometimes blogging seems like such a chore.

(I can hear you, you know. You just said, ‘Then why do you do it?’ I’ve answered that question before, and I suppose I will again. But not today.)

Anyhow.

It does.

I figured out what is going on with my foot. If you’ll recall I my right foot was causing me pain when I ran. I took the week before Christmas off from running to give it chance to recover. I also bought a new pair of sneakers. My foot hadn’t been bothering me at all, so I went to the gym to give myself my ritual torture on the treadmill.

As soon as I started the pain started up. What’s worse, it throws of my stride. Instead of running evenly, I extend my left leg correctly, but take a short step with my right. I guess it hurts less that way. I tried to concentrate on running evenly, but I found that I kept favoring the left foot. This means that I was pulling at all kinds of muscles and tendons that don’t usually get used this way. By the time I had run for 30 minutes, I was no good. I stepped off the treadmill and was barely able to walk.

When I got home, I examined my foot closely. I poked all the bones and everything felt okay, nothing fractured. I knew something was going on, this has been bothering me for weeks. I poked and prodded some more until I found the exact spot that the pain radiated from. It was the joint between the middle toe and the main bone in my foot.

Suddenly I realized exactly when I had injured it. I was switching from a brisk walk to a jog on the treadmill and stepped awkwardly, as I had anticipated the run a moment before the treadmill was up to speed. Turf Toe. That’s what I have. The good news is now I know how to treat it. The bad news is I may be a week or more with out running.

It’s funny in a way. Being the football fan that I am, I’ve seen players suffer through turf toe. It can keep them out for weeks. Fans always question it, how bad could it be, it just a toe. Now I understand. Luckily, I suppose, it’s not my big toe.

I’ll be taking Advil and the rest of the Celebrex that I have and combining that with keeping my foot elevated for an hour or two each night. With any luck, I’ll be able to run soon. In the mean time, I need to find a way to burn some calories.

I may have to resort to something like the dreaded yoga.