Good for What Ails - II

Not sure where to start. I woke yesterday to an enormously painful, big-toe joint. By the time I finally had time for a run, not only was the joint very swollen and red, but my limping had given me a pretty big knot in my calf. I'm going to admit to being a little crazy; I made an amazing leap to thinking it could be gout. Ok, so a lot more men than women get it and I don't have the risk factors usually associated with it, but, it does have a familial component and my father had been diagnosed with it at one point and I do like my beer.

So, instead of running, I headed to the doctor who actually didn't think I was out of my mind with my diagnosis. She looked at my toe and listened to my story. She seemed more concerned with pain relief where I just wanted to know what I was dealing with. She sent me off for blood work and with instructions for NSAIDs and icing.

Let me further make fun of myself. I say I thought of gout, in large part, cause of the sudden onset. Yeah, did I complain on a blog about my big toe being aggravated by the Nordic Tracking just last week? If not, maybe it was just Rick that was subjected to that. During my karate years, I jammed my big toes a lot. It's why I have trouble finding the right road shoe ; Even overlays that cover the shoe can aggravate the stupid digit. So, I guess it's funny that I might be considering it "sudden".

The nurse called this morning and said my uric acid level (the indicator of gout) was right smack in the middle of normal. She said I should continue with the NSAIDs and ice. If I don't see improvement in a week, I could come in for xrays. I didn't tell her I don't take any of that stuff cause it wrecks my stomach. I might ice it, but... What I really concentrated on was trying to walk a little more normally to help with the calf.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned how much I love running in the snow. In fact, I love running in blizzard-like conditions. I kept looking out and wondering how much damage I would do by running. Ok. I could at least head out and stop if it hurt too much. I put on all the right gear and then held my breath as I attempted to put my left foot into its shoe. Guess what! My love for my Inov-8s grew many times today. My toe actually feels better in them than barefoot!! And running was less painful than walking. Before long I'd lost myself to the run. Maybe I'll count this as icing the toe :)

My heart rate was probably higher today than during any of my races this year. The new powder was pretty deep and drifted in spots. I only lasted 42 minutes, but that was due to the exertion not the toe. I almost went down twice - more from not having depth perception in the snow than from the footing. I haven't even been able to bring myself to put the screws in my shoes yet. I know it doesn't hurt them; I did it last year, but these are my brand new shoes.

I'm thinking I need to clean up my old Inov-8's so I can wear them around the house. I'm not kidding. I aught to write them a fan letter.