St. Petersburg, Russia
It’s amazing the pain you can tolerate when you think you’re fine. Once my wrists felt better, I simply ignored them. Occasionally they would feel sore, but it wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t waking me up at night.
Needless to say, I didn’t remain pain free for long. I began feeling pain in my feet. The bottom of my feet would just be sore. I blamed this on bad shoes (I’m cheap AND I like heals, a deadly combo!) and working out. It wasn’t so bad anyway. Plus, I was planning a mega-vacation to Europe, so I was blissfully distracted.Looking back now, I’d say I had a major flare up during my first week in Europe. At the time, I thought I was walking too much and had brought the wrong shoes. Looking back, I can feel more empathetic and forgiving toward myself about how painful it was to walk around. At the time, I bought gel inserts and foot cream and told myself to “suck it up.”
Istanbul, Turkey
I spent a week walking around with painful, swollen feet. The days we walked a lot were bad. I had to take breaks, which was so unlike me that I would beat myself up over it. Every chair or bench I saw, I’d take a break (the museums in Russia are huge-I thought I’d never make it through the Hermitage!). The days we were off our feet, I felt much better. Luckily, I was distracted by Russia, with all its charm and beauty. And, mysteriously, by the second day in Greece, my feet were much better. I felt normal (of course, I was rapidly developing a new pain threshold and standard of normal).I got back from Turkey rejuvenated, energetic and ready to start training for a half marathon.
My RAD Life 