The Plantar Fascia is the tendon that runs under your foot from the toes to the heel. This tendon can become strained if it is overused or stressed. A combination of the extra miles I’ve logged during my marathon training and my run-in with the hickory nut have left my planta fascia begging for a break.

I first felt a pain in the sole of my right foot after a 21 mile run on October 6th. Since then, I’ve run a grand total of three times and never more than 4 miles. Each time, I’ve felt varying degrees of pain. With only 16 days left until the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, I do not have the luxury of letting my PF rest and heal properly.

With the clock ticking and my mind telling me that I need to get in another long run prior to race day, I decided to head over to see my buddy Kevin at the Rudy J. Ellis Sports Medicine Center yesterday. After a thorough examination of my foot (which is never pretty), he determined that  there are several factors at play in my injury. The factors that are out of my control involve the structure of my foot. I have very flat feet (no arch) and I overpronate (my foot naturally rolls to the inside when I walk or run). These are things that I have known for years and that is why I am adamant about replacing my running shoes every 300 miles. I need the arch support and stability that the shoe provides. The other factors that came into play were the increased stress on my arch due to the long runs and straining the tendon my stretching it as I landed my foot directly on that damn hickory nut (this just sound ridiculous).

So Kevin fixed me up with a tape job that will help support my arch and let is rest while the plantar fascia is healing. This tape job will also hopefully stabilize my arch enough that I can get through one more long run that I have planned for tomorrow. If I can make it through this run, I will rest for the next two weeks and only do some short, high intensity runs leading up to the race. Fingers are crossed!

Here’s the tape job…if feet gross you out, you may want to skip down past the pictures. I’m sure I will catch some heat from my wife for putting these pictures on here for all the world to see, but I thought it might be useful for someone else that may be experiencing similar injuries.