I ran the Chicago Marathon today in 2:47:31. I was pleased with the race. I was able to negative split (by 13 seconds), and by the grace of God my heel did not bother me.
My heel has been bothering me for several years. I had been to two doctors and multiple athletic trainers, and no one seemed to concerned about it. Based on this I have continued to run through the pain, and adjusted my training to focus on my strengths. For example, I have not trained for a 5k in years because the speed hurts my heel. Over the past couple of years, I've focused on longer races because the slower pace seems to be more kind on my heel.
During my marathon build up my heel started to hurt more than normal; beyond my usual tolerance. For the most part, I had always been able to train through the pain; however, I did have to make some adjustments. The main thing I had to do was stop about 30 min into each run and stretch. There was something wrong.
The pain seemed to be getting progressively worse, so I decided I would take some time off and get it looked at after the marathon.
The week after the marathon I made an appointment with Dr. David Porter at Methodist Sports Medicine. My friend Aaron Crague recommended him. I did some research, and he seemed to be an expert in the field, so I scheduled an appointment. The problem was, the appoint was 6 weeks away (December). To be honest, I figured I would be healthy in 6 weeks; I was planning on cancelling the appointment a week prior. Well, December came around, and I was still in pain, so I went to my appointment.
