Orthotics: Out of the Boot, Kind Of but with a Twist…

So I think the title says it all here. It has been determined that I definitely partially tore my ligament in my foot – the one that goes under the ball of my foot and it has also been determined that while it is on the road to recovery, it definitely is nowhere near completely healed. So I have orthotics that, in theory, relieve the pain that i would have while still allowing me to walk normally… notice the word in theory over there in that sentence? Yea… doesn’t quite work that way…

So I get a call Friday, saying “Your orthotics are in, when would you like to schedule an appointment to come pick them up?”

To which I reply “ASAP”

I got an appointment for Monday at 4:15pm. I happen to get off of work at 4pm (because I get in at 7:30am), so this is great in my head. I don’t know if you have ever driven and tried to find parking in DC so when I found what I thought was parking at 4:08pm on a Monday on K st right in front of the doc’s office and all it was going to cost me was some quarters in the meter, I about threw a party. So as I am pumping in quarters to the meter, I laugh silently at the parking guy who is attending the lot that costs something ridiculous like $12 an hour, thinking you ain’t gonna get me! As I start to walk away, feeling very pleased with myself, the parking guy (the same guy from the sentence before) tells me I can’t park where I did because of rush hour. I look at him and needless to say some expletives and a “you’ve gotta be kidding me” came out of my mouth and then some more expletives… I went back and looked at the 4 signs, and low and behold between 4 and 6:30pm there was no parking on K st between 20th and 22nd st…. So I get in my car and the dude is actually visibly laughing at me at this point, so I am like “Fine, well, I know where I am not parking now…” So I go to the next lot where it is still highway robbery to park for an hour or less ($11) AND they require me to get out of my car so they can park it for me….

Long story short, by this time, I am thoroughly annoyed and headed into an appt where I need to be cool-headed. I was anything BUT cool-headed.

Anywho, I got these orthotics:

My custom orthotics, aka: my 70 yr old man feet support.
My custom orthotics, aka: my 70 yr old man feet support.

Yes, there is an abnormally high arch because i have flat freakin duck feet. Yes, there is an indent for under the ball of my foot so that my STILL PARTIALLY TORN LIGAMENT can function somewhat normally. and by somewhat normally, I mean, me walking on the side of my foot or whatever to make myself function in these stupid things.

I have one for each foot (lucky me!) and i get to wear them ALL of the time! I know, you wish you were so lucky! Anyway, it took me 3 days and 4 different pairs of running shoes for me to figure out which were best to wear with orthotics… believe it or not, not all shoes are good with orthotics. I tried my flat zero drop altras first, both pairs, and while normally I love my altras (feels like im walking on marshmallows), i hated them with the orthotics! The reason why was because they were super wide and the arches of the orthotics were/are so high, my feet would slide down them and the outside of my foot would be walking on the lip of the orthotic. that SUCKED. (tried both pairs) So I switched to my Mizuno Nirvanas (my beloved stabilizers). These were better and even though my foot wasn’t sliding so much, for the first time in my life, I was supinating. WTF!??!

So when I got home from work and was cleaning up the shoes my puggy decided to pull out of my shoe crate (which holds running shoes, flip flops and calf sleeves), I spotted my Brooks Pure Connects. I ran in these before I knew there were shoes for different foot types… and stopped running in em because I am an overpronator and they didnt give my flat flat feet the necessary support… anyway, there they were, looking up at me, bright and shiny with a light on them and the ahhhhhhhhh being sung in the background.

Brooks Pure Connects ARE the best to be worn with orthotics! Now, I just need to wait 3 more weeks until I can run (1 week in orthotics down).

The way that I am in and out of the boot is because for the first week while I was getting adjusted, I had to wear the orthotics for an hour on day 1 and then the boot the rest of the day. Orthotics for 2 hours on day 2 and then boot the rest of the time… etc. You get the idea.

I AM happy to report that I 1) found the ENTRANCE to the branch of Sport and Health closest to my house (yes, it IS that hard to find the freakin entrance) and 2) I can ride a bike again!!! THANK GOD!!! I cardioed by way of elliptical and stationary bike this week! STOKED TO BE SWEATING AGAIN! (yes, Shannon made me sweat too! She actually kicks my ass thoroughly although she may not know it!)

Anywho, I am slowly adapting to the wearing of 70 year old man feet orthotics! Hoping that I will be on track for marathoning in October! My doc is optimistic!

I traveled last weekend and the weekend before so while my friends head to Preakfest this weekend to see Macklemore and Pitbull (both great artists – Macklemore actually raps a lot about his experiences and being sober and how that is hard in the rap world — I can only imagine), I will be staying local to catch up on rest, reading and chillaxing. Did I mention I would be relaxing? Yea, that is happening.

I will get an update about the travel to NC from last weekend at some point in the near future; hopefully I will get it up before I leave Tuesday morning (at the buttcrack of dawn) for Portland. I am going to Drupalcon for work and I am so freakin excited (more will be posted on that over at imacomputernerd.com, my other site, once I have gone through the conference next week.)!!!

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2 Comments

  1. Mels says

    pssh, orthotics are awesome. (I have ridiculously high arches and supinate like whoa, so our orthotics would have to fight if they met in a dark alley.)

    1. onelittlebecca says

      Lol that’s awesome! They prolly would fight. I think I’m still gettin used to it. Or they need to be adjusted

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