Monday, October 02, 2006

I hate coming up with clever titles …

so today I'm not even going to bother trying.

My former husband's sister and her husband had a lovely, careful, effective way of arguing that was actually very funny if you happened to witness them. At some point during a disagreement, one of them would turn to the other and say [or sometimes snarl], "Thank you for sharing."

So, thank you all for sharing your opinions about how to manage my heel pain.

I had no idea going barefoot would exacerbate the problem; I've been going barefoot as much as possible all summer! I thought that was a Good Thing, and actually thought my Birks were contributing to the problem. Thank you, Marilyn, for your sensible advice. I wear Clark's clogs in cool weather, and it's definitely turning into Clark's season. I think that will help. [My husband had plantar fasciitis a couple years ago, and a shoe salesman recommended Clark's for him.]

My son-in-law has had it as well, and uses/used heel cups, with much relief. He still runs regularly.

Greta, I am going to cancel the podiatrist appointment, but not because you urged me to.

My first thought after reading your comment was, "Thank you for sharing."

My second was that it seems ludicrous to me to dismiss all podiatrists because of your bad experience. Thank you, Mehitabel, for respectfully disagreeing. I knew someone would!

I'm not a big health-care consumer. I'm conservative about treatment for any health problem, as is my family doctor, and think I have enough common sense to question something that sounds expensive and unhelpful. I'm also married to a physician, and while foot problems are obviously not his specialty, he also takes a common-sense, conservative approach to treatment and would certainly not let me hurt myself further.

The real reason I'm cancelling the appointment is because after another day of not running or walking, there is even more improvement. My conservative nature tells me that maybe my body can heal itself, given enough rest, ice, stretching and Aleve, all of which I'm doing.

Cindy, I would love-love-love to ride a bicycle for exercise, and I've come thisclose to buying a bike. I even stopped a guy on my road one time to talk about biking, and it turned out that he owned a bike shop in the northern part of West Virginia, and was full of good advice.

He was only the second bike rider I've ever seen here in the Middle of Nowhere – this is my 10th year of living here. The main road is not safe for a novice rider [that would be me], and the road on which I live is one long, steep hill after another, for miles and miles and miles. The thought of investing in a bike and then having to cart it someplace to ride it is less appealing to me than jumping on the rowing machine any old time I please.

I'm keeping my options open about it, though, because reading descriptions on your blog of how much your husband loves riding is what got me thinking about biking for exercise.

I also have to remember that I didn't love walking on my road when I started doing it earlier this year. It was hard, just like rowing is now. But I learned yesterday that my dj steveboy mixes work just as well in helping me keep a steady rowing pace as they do in running. I did 45 minutes at a vigorous, 37.5 strokes-per-minute pace, and lifted weights, too. Rowing really is a full-body workout; I wasn't kidding when I said that yesterday.

Living in the Middle of Nowhere frequently forces me to be self-sufficient, with my health, with my entertainment and especially with my fitness program. My foxy ankles [thanks, DG!] and I thank you all for your suggestions. I know you say what you do because you care.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

heehee, Matt's love for biking is an undertatement. He's found a workout that he's passionate about and I'm thrilled for him (and not a wee bit envious). I have the same issues with road riding as you do (well and there's that whole "I'll go riding with you, if you learn to knit" thing). I don't want to spend money on a bike that I might not enjoy riding. I don't like the idea of riding on the road (at least I would be out with him, and two is safer than one) and I haven't been on a bike in decades (30 years perhaps... I didn't ride a lot as a child... too many hills, see even as a child I was lazy). Then again, I said I would never run... and I'm slowly adding it to my workouts. However, biking is certainly a lot lower impact than running, and all those hills will burn more calories! And you get to buy cute lycra padded shorts... okay, that might not be a positive.