I’m just going to preface this post by saying I’m not a doctor, so this is simply my own experience. If you’re feeling foot pain you should see a doctor.
So, over the past year or so, since I’ve really started running in earnest and outside a lot more, I’ve developed an intermittent pain in the ball of my foot. Last year, it was on my left foot, but now it has migrated to my right foot. When it happened last year, I got worried that maybe it was a stress fracture, so I went to the podiatrist right away. He gave the foot an X-ray and it wasn’t fractured. He told me, he thought it was a neuroma or metatarsalgia. And suggested, given my flat feet, I really should get custom orthotics. I still haven’t done that.
Nonetheless, I took some time off, began running more, and the pain really ended up going away. It didn’t come back until I decided, being the smart guy that I am, that I needed to break in a new pair of running shoes for the upcoming marathon. And so on about the 3rd or 4th run, I started getting that dull, ball of the foot pain around the 2nd and 3rd toe. A real bummer. And now as I’m getting ready to run here this coming Sunday, my foot is still bothering a bit. Hopefully, I’ll be fine for most of the race and I’m going to just tough it out if it does bother me. It’s really not bad, just sort of a bothersome ache/pain.
Here’s what I’ve learned, but don’t hold me to this:
Need to make sure the toe box in the shoe is good and roomy. I’m going to try a new tying method.
A new pair of shoes can potentially cause re-inflammation. Don’t break in a pair of shoes with a month to go in training. I actually thought I’d be fine. Lesson learned. Start out with a couple (or more) pairs.
I probably should have done a bit more cross-training near the end when my foot was bothering me and I’m going to try that this summer, should it happen again.
