Obstacle One

I developed pain in my left foot three years ago, while training for Outer Banks Marathon. It was nagging, but disappeared during my recovery from the race. I ramped up again for City of Oaks Marathon in the fall, and the pain returned with a vengeance. I started to race half marathon's to keep the pain in check, and that worked OK for another season. I was ready to get it looked at in 2009 when I had the accident that broke my arm, and brought me a prosthetic elbow. Honestly, I needed some distance between that and any thought of foot surgery. I tried to train for my favorite half marathon distance, American Tobacco Trail, this spring. I found myself unable to even put a shoe on without intense pain, and couldn't run more than a couple of miles without being in pain for days. The pain woke me up, and made my toe throb all day long. It was when I had to withdraw from the race that I gave in and called the orthopaedic surgeon. I was diagnosed with hallux rigidus of the 1st MTP, 3rd degree. It was salvageable with a cheilectomy. While I was under anesthesia, the surgeon also removed hardware that was installed on my right foot in 1999 that had worked its way loose. Nothing like a double foot surgery at the beginning of a dream to run a 50 mile race. It's been two weeks since surgery, and the recovery is going quite nicely. I dropped the crutches on day 3, and drove my car on day 9. Left the elevator behind today in favor of the stairs. Stitches come out on Monday, and I'm sure I'll be in the gym sometime next week to start learning to walk and run all over again. If I was concerned about wearing fancy sandals, I may have issues. Alas, I am more interested in functionality than scars!