TG957
Beloved Grand Eagle
Wanted to share the story of how TMS played a prank on me. I thought that I knew all about TMS, but, as it turns out, it had more tricks in the hat!
So, this summer I embarked on a big adventure: hiking John Muir Trail in California mountains. I had hiked a portion of it before, but about 160 miles of the entire 211 (or 224 miles, depending on how you measure) I had not covered. I do not want to bore the audience with details, but, in short, it is a strenuous and logistically complex undertaking, and preparation and anticipation of challenges and risks definitely stressed me out a lot!
So, about 4 months prior to the start of the trip, I started experiencing pain in my right foot. I had had this kind of pain in my foot before on and off, but this time around it showed up daily, consistently, and was quite debilitating. As the start of my hike approached, it became obvious that it would not let me walk on a very unforgiving rocky trail with a heavy backpack on my shoulders for 8--10 hours every day. On my training hikes, about couple hours into it, my foot was giving me clear signal: do not go on this John Muir Trail hike, or I will hurt you.
Eventually I decided to pay attention, and went to the chiropractor. She quickly diagnosed plantar fasciitis. Many dollars and many hours of foot and leg exercises later, I finally started on the trail, still very worried about my foot.
Day 1, my foot gave me hell after about 4 hours. Luckily, I had no choice but continue walking, turning around was not an option. Day 2, I was still stretching, massaging and nurturing my foot, but again had to walk another 12 miles. By day 4, my foot stopped complaining and performed beautifully for the remaining 2 weeks.
However, as soon as we got off the trail and hit a stressful situation with something else indirectly related to the hike, my foot started hurting again, as if it was reminding me that I was warned not to do it.
I am so glad that my TMS did not stop me in my tracks, this hike was the most exciting adventure of my life!
So, this summer I embarked on a big adventure: hiking John Muir Trail in California mountains. I had hiked a portion of it before, but about 160 miles of the entire 211 (or 224 miles, depending on how you measure) I had not covered. I do not want to bore the audience with details, but, in short, it is a strenuous and logistically complex undertaking, and preparation and anticipation of challenges and risks definitely stressed me out a lot!
So, about 4 months prior to the start of the trip, I started experiencing pain in my right foot. I had had this kind of pain in my foot before on and off, but this time around it showed up daily, consistently, and was quite debilitating. As the start of my hike approached, it became obvious that it would not let me walk on a very unforgiving rocky trail with a heavy backpack on my shoulders for 8--10 hours every day. On my training hikes, about couple hours into it, my foot was giving me clear signal: do not go on this John Muir Trail hike, or I will hurt you.
Eventually I decided to pay attention, and went to the chiropractor. She quickly diagnosed plantar fasciitis. Many dollars and many hours of foot and leg exercises later, I finally started on the trail, still very worried about my foot.
Day 1, my foot gave me hell after about 4 hours. Luckily, I had no choice but continue walking, turning around was not an option. Day 2, I was still stretching, massaging and nurturing my foot, but again had to walk another 12 miles. By day 4, my foot stopped complaining and performed beautifully for the remaining 2 weeks.
However, as soon as we got off the trail and hit a stressful situation with something else indirectly related to the hike, my foot started hurting again, as if it was reminding me that I was warned not to do it.
I am so glad that my TMS did not stop me in my tracks, this hike was the most exciting adventure of my life!
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