Lisa Doggett

I'm honored that my post, Banning the Word "Perfect," has been published in BookTrib. Please take a look at the following link: https://booktrib.com/2018/09/perfect-lisa-doggett/

I'd welcome your comments below. 

I am finally admitting defeat. My foot pain, stemming from self-diagnosed plantar fasciitis, is not going to just "go away" on its own. I've been mostly ignoring it for over seven months. I ran all winter and spring, dutifully taking Naprosyn after my runs and stretching briefly but otherwise brushing it aside. I ran a half-marathon in January and kept up with eight-to-ten-mile long runs on weekends. Now I have to stop.

I usually try to practice what I preach as a physician. I embrace a healthy lifestyle, including daily exercise. I'm an ideal MS patient too. I take my medication regularly, and I never miss a test, a doctor's visit, or an infusion.

But cutting back my mileage on runs to appease my sore foot has felt wimpy, even as I limped around the rest of the day.

Now I've resolved to change. I am officially taking a break from running and getting serious about healing this injury. I'm going to be a good patient.

The timing is not quite coincidental. With Austin's high humidity and LOW temperatures in the mid- to-upper 70s, summer runs are usually pretty miserable. Still, the lake beckons, my dog gets antsy, and we have to hit the trail. Just not this summer.

I have to be adaptable – not my strongest skill. In doing so, I will search for the unexpected benefits, the silver lining.

I found one already during our recent trip to New York City. After a long stroll on the first day, through Central Park and the Upper East Side, I realized that my foot would not permit another day of endless walking. I was disappointed: unrestricted wandering is my preferred activity on most vacations.

But our Plan B was even better. Don and I discovered CitiBikeNYC. For $13 each, we bought day passes for unlimited 30-minute bike rentals from any of the hundreds of CitiBike docking stations scattered around the city. We biked through lower Manhattan, over the Brooklyn Bridge (where the bike lanes were much less crowded than the walking lanes), and made our way to Brooklyn Heights, a part of New York City we had never visited. Throughout the day, we alternated biking and walking, logging roughly 12 miles on the bike and much less on foot. We saw far more than we would have without the bikes, and though my feet were still aching at the end of the day, I know the bikes reduced my discomfort.

These last few days, my feet got a real break with my return to work. I am creating a physical therapy plan for myself, and I have revised my daily exercise plan to avoid running or walking. Now I go to spin class, do a 21-minute circuit work-out,  hop on the trusty Stairmaster, or swim at Deep Eddy Pool.

I had dinner last night with Jess – my most consistent and much-loved running partner – and her family. It didn't quite replace our therapeutic talks on long runs together, but it was wonderful nonetheless (with the distinct advantage of Jess's terrific cooking and cherry pie for dessert).  I just wish I had a treadmill for the dog…