Michael: Heel Pain

The rustling wind
Speaks in a dry raspy voice
Of desperation.

Monday, July 23, 2018

For the past 20, maybe 30 years I will occasionally experience excruciating heel pain. The first hint of this recent bout came after the Billy Goat half marathon last month. But it didn’t really hit me with a vengeance until last Saturday when my heels became so sensitive I had to walk the last downhill sections of the Los Liones out and back I was running.

As when this first cropped up, my initial response was to blame something I could quickly buy my way out of; new shoes. So I switched from my Billy Goat race shoes (Nike Kiger 3s) to on sale Hoka Speed Instinct Twos. But after experiencing pain in those running Bull Dog, I switched back to the Nike’s though with an aftermarket cushioned insole. That was last week and the pain was only worse.

Perhaps it wasn’t the shoes.

I decided to take a couple of days off of running and make sure I was doing my nightly stretching diligently. These stretches include calf stretches assigned to me by my physical therapist that pulled my out of my first experience with heel pain. And even though I know that’s the best, simplest, and most cost effective method to first approach this problem when it recurs, c’mon, it’s still nice to believe a new pair of shoes will fix the problem.

Today, I switched back to the Speed Instincts and had a great pain free run. I doubt the problem has completely resolved and probably is always lurking underfoot unless I’m very diligent with my stretch routine, but I’m still hoping that one day I’ll slip into a magical pair of trail slippers and won’t have to go through my stretching ritual; at least not every single day for the rest of my life.