my achilles hurts...

[Fooboy]

Hey all,
I do a fairly quick run for about 2.5 miles now. Recently my achilles ankle on my left foot is starting to hurt. at first it was just a cramping feeling, then i progressed into pain. It's gone now but it comes back ever so often. Will my foot fall off? Anybody experience the same thing?

thnx!
foobs

[DBarcelo]

You should really consult your doctor. There are a lot of different things that can cause that type of pain. Your shoes can be the problem, a runner is supposed to change their shoes like every 1000 miles or something like that (it may be 500 miles). You may even have the wrong type of shoe for your foot. Running shoes are made for certain strides and certain foot shapes. Probably the most common physical problem is called plantar fasciitis. Your best bet is to find a specialist, because a regular doctor tends to misdiagnose another condition as being plantar fasciitis. It doesn't sound like plantar fasciitis to me, it really sounds like its either a problem with the shoe or a problem with a weakness in the joints.

No, your foot isn't going to fall off, but this isn't something you'll be able to resolve on a chat line. You really have to consult a physician.

You may even be able to consult with your local runner's club.