"Toeper" Madness

Thursday night during yoga class, I was daydreaming. I was mentally preparing my race strategy for my 5k on Saturday, when all of a sudden, I absentmindedly slammed my right "ring finger" toe into a hard cork block and heard a "pop" sound when it hit. The pain wasn't too bad, but the pop definitely scared me. I finished the class and iced it when I got home.  The next morning the toe was painful, swollen and blood was pooling under the toenail (I will spare you pictures of it). So naturally, like any rational person would do, I googled "broken toe" and saw pictures and read about symptoms of broken toes that looked and sounded a lot like my toe. I also read that broken toes could sometimes take eight to 10 weeks to heal. So, I was going to head on over the ER in the afternoon to get an x-ray and prepare myself for the bad news that I would have to sit in "injury jail" for several weeks. I was in a funk as I was just starting to feel like my "base building" phase was over and I could start marathon training with some serious speed work.

Then I remembered that I had a physical therapy session that afternoon, so I figured I would get the therapist to look at the toe instead of waiting for a few hours for an ER doctor. Once at PT, my physical therapist took out a tuning fork and did some vibration tests on the toe. She quickly determined that the toe was not broken! A wave of relief flooded over me. However she said that I needed to take a few days off for the pain and swelling to subside. Naturally that means I had to DNS my 5k on Saturday, but it was the best prognosis I could have hoped for!

Presently, I am chomping at the bit, anxiously awaiting my return to running. It's like I am tapering for a marathon. My legs are super well rested and I have been getting more sleep than ever. Everything is lining up for a great "restart" to running, I just have to wait for my stupid toe to feel better.