2010 Boston Marathon

I have great hope that my mechanics will be in great form by April next year, so I just entered the 2010 Boston Marathon. Of course, I am having a hard time walking today! It has nothing to do with running two marathons over the previous two weekends. I am fiddling around with putting pads under the metatarsals of my big toes. It feels real good walking as I easily have more balance. The goal is to keep my left foot from rolling to the inside and everting out, throwing off the balance of my left leg and the left side of my body. Simply put, this could be due to having Morton's foot, which is not always a longer second toe (not true for me) but a longer second metatarsal (very true for me). I was purposely taking this week off, but ran a few miles on the treadmill Wednesday. I felt my left calf tightening up and stopped. Today I went for a run (how could you not in the warm weather?) and felt good for 3-4 miles, then the calf started tightening again. As I neared my house after 6 miles, it was getting too tight to even run on. Now I am limping around in worse condition than after either marathon I just ran. I sort of expected something like this and I think it is due to the pad under my left toe's metatarsal helping that foot be more stable (a stability I could feel right up my leg and into my hip). Because it is stable the foot wasn't rolling to the inside edge and everting to the outside as much. I could push off with the foot and used the inner side of my calf for a change. That is what tightened up from overuse. I have a lot more fooling around to do to see if this is going to work for me, but I have all winter for that. Hopefully, by April I will be running strong. It will also be ten years since I finished in last place at the Boston Marathon. I sure hope I can improve on that finish!

I am using Spenco Molesking to build a pad under the head of my first metatarsals. I got the idea from this book Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts in the Foot by Dr. Burton S. Schuler. It is a quick and easy read about Morton's Foot. The doctor isn't selling anything. He is just giving an easy accomodation for a common problem that can cause lots of pain throughout the body. It is explained thoroughly in the book and a cheap remedy is shown. You can find the remedy here if you don't want to read the whole book, but obviously the book goes into more detail. Here is the website for more information on the book.