Facing the music — er, the doctor

It’s been a while since my ankle has felt right.

I twisted it on a steep trail in Rock Creek Park just before New Year’s. It felt fine at first, but bruised up something fierce later. So I took two weeks off, popped NSAIDs like candy and routinely dunked my foot in a bucket of ice water.

It seemed fine when I got going again, with the only irritation coming when I put on my ski boots every other weekend. But after the half-marathon on Saturday, I noticed it was sore, and a little bruised again. I repeated my rest-ice-NSAID routine, and asked some of my serious-runner friends if I should be worried.

In short, their answer was: Probably, given that it happened in December.

So I’m sucking it up and seeing the doctor, hoping he’ll tell me it’s nothing more than a bruise, but preparing myself to hear I have a stress fracture that will keep me off the road for a month or so.

I have an appointment with Dr. Daniel Pereles on Friday. His medical credentials look great, he takes my insurance, he’s a 10-minute drive from my house and he’s one of the Washingtonian Magazine’s top doctors for 2008. More importantly, he’s completed eight marathons, serves on the medical advisory board for Runner’s World, and is endorsed by the Montgomery County Road Runners Club. Which means if this guy tells me I can’t run for a while, he knows exactly what this means for my psyche.

Stay tuned for more about coping with injuries tomorrow.