Annie's on the run

I find this especially true in the kinds of days one tends to have (one, especially being me). Yesterday I was the happiest I’ve been in weeks. I was basically high as a kite all day. Today, my butt hit the ground again after seeing a pressure point therapist about my foot. See, S had heard about this guy at Reach the Beach this year, from one of the other runners in his van. He thought it was a good idea for both of us to go and get checked out (S has had a recurring problem with his foot for almost a year now). Since I was (and still am) pretty desperate, I immediately agreed. And after reading the Yelp reviews about this dude, I was pret-ty convinced he was a sorcerer and I was going to be able to run miles and miles by Sunday. That is most definitely not the case. The thing is, the news today wasn’t especially bad. There were just no miracles.

See, as it turns out, my biggest problem these days isn’t the soft tissue damage that was done to my foot back in July, but a minor ankle sprain I also suffered from, but no one identified until now. His reasoning was that the sprain was so minor (nothing even got inflamed) that it went entirely unnoticed, by every doctor I saw before him. I think this is for a couple of reasons. 1) The pain in my foot was so bad before that I couldn’t walk normally when I saw either doctor, so it’d be impossible to tell what was causing the problem—my foot or my ankle. And 2) I frankly just don’t think they gave a damn. But now, since the pain in my foot has subsided and I’m walking “normally” it’s easy to see how much my ankle is shooting out with every step. So what does this all mean? Ultimately, that I will not be running until my ankle has resumed its strength and my body is back in alignment. In the meantime, I will be doing a series of exercises to regain strength in my ankle, while also wearing a brace just below the knee that is designed to keep my fibula and tibula in place, and keep my ankle stable when I walk. This whole realization caused a lot more tears than were probably appropriate. The doctor also said though that both S and I might be feeling emotional as a result of the pressure point therapy he did on us today. While it’s not totally abnormal for me to cry for no reason at all, it made me feel a little bit better about the amount of tears that were shed this afternoon. SEE, THERE’S A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION FOR MY CRAZY, OK?

Despite the outcome, today was super interesting. It was insane to see how connected the body is from this guy. See, S had a pain in his neck (it wasn’t me), that was very tender to the touch. This dude worked on his foot aggressively, for about 10 minutes, and somehow the pressure in his neck completely released. It was insane to see. There really is something magical about pressure point therapy. The other thing I learned today that was interesting was how much emotions come into play. The guy tried to remind me to stay calm because if I’m tense and upset my body isn’t going to heal as quickly. He really emphasized how much emotions can come into play with the functionality of the body.

Have any of you ever seen a pressure point therapist? Did it help? I’m due for another appointment next week, so he can see how the brace and the exercises are helping. I’ll let you guys know before then if I think he’s full of you-kn0w-what.

In the meantime, let me show you a glimpse into our afternoon: