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Boyle County senior Taylor Jameson has battled through heel injuries all season, and has stopped runing to give his injuries time to heal. (Mike Marsee / September 20, 2012) |
Taylor Jameson knew when he took off his shoes that his senior season wasn’t going to be quite what he expected. Jameson’s heel starting hurting during his first cross country race of the season, but it wasn’t until he finished the race that he realized just how bad it was.
What he discovered was an injury that would force him to take drastic measures in an attempt to salvage his final season at Boyle County.
Now he has done of the hardest things for a runner to do to try to heal the injury: He has stopped running.
“I’m kind of out of options now,” Jameson said. “I just want to be healthy for regions. That’s the whole goal.”
Jameson had other goals when the season started, and he said he felt “awesome” at the start of Boyle’s season-opening race Aug. 30 in Wilmore.
After just a few minutes, not so much.
“I I felt like there was a rock in my shoe or something, because I could feel friction, and I finished the race and took my shoes off, and honestly, my skin just peeled off,” he said.
Jameson wanted to run in spikes, so he wore a pair he had used in track and field. And those spikes dug a hole into his right heel in no time at all.
“Big mistake,” he said. “I think it was just too much friction on my feet, and eventually it just blistered and ripped the callous off.”
The heel hasn’t heeled, even though Jameson has tried everything from Epsom salts to liquid skin to staying off his foot as much as possible.
Jameson said he didn’t feel much better last week when he ran in the Boyle County Invitational, his last home meet after 11 years on the team. He was hurting with every stride, but he was determined to get through it.
“Being my senior year, the home course, I was determined to finish the race,” he said. “I got through the first, I’d say, mile and a half and felt good, then it just started hurting. But I just kind of slowed down, got up on my toes and finished the race the best I could.”
He finished in 70th place with a time of 22 minutes, 9 seconds on the 3.1-mile Millennium Park course, well off his usual pace.
“I just wanted to finish. I didn’t really care, as long as I finished the race,” he said.
It was difficult for his coach to watch, because she is also his mother.
“It’s very hard to see him, I give him credit for toughing it out and finishing, but at the same time I don’t want to see him injured,” Boyle coach Grace Jameson said. “He’s very frustrated, but it was extremely important for him to do this meet one way or the other.”
Jameson said he was more frustrated by the fact that he had to drop out of his previous race at Danville six days earlier.
“It’s my 11th season, and it’s the first time I’ve ever had to DQ myself, so that was not fun. I was kind of beat up the rest of the day,” he said.
He had been looking forward to finishing his cross country career with a good season when he went to the starting line for that race at Wilmore.
What he discovered was an injury that would force him to take drastic measures in an attempt to salvage his final season at Boyle County.
Now he has done of the hardest things for a runner to do to try to heal the injury: He has stopped running.
“I’m kind of out of options now,” Jameson said. “I just want to be healthy for regions. That’s the whole goal.”
Jameson had other goals when the season started, and he said he felt “awesome” at the start of Boyle’s season-opening race Aug. 30 in Wilmore.
After just a few minutes, not so much.
“I I felt like there was a rock in my shoe or something, because I could feel friction, and I finished the race and took my shoes off, and honestly, my skin just peeled off,” he said.
Jameson wanted to run in spikes, so he wore a pair he had used in track and field. And those spikes dug a hole into his right heel in no time at all.
“Big mistake,” he said. “I think it was just too much friction on my feet, and eventually it just blistered and ripped the callous off.”
The heel hasn’t heeled, even though Jameson has tried everything from Epsom salts to liquid skin to staying off his foot as much as possible.
Jameson said he didn’t feel much better last week when he ran in the Boyle County Invitational, his last home meet after 11 years on the team. He was hurting with every stride, but he was determined to get through it.
“Being my senior year, the home course, I was determined to finish the race,” he said. “I got through the first, I’d say, mile and a half and felt good, then it just started hurting. But I just kind of slowed down, got up on my toes and finished the race the best I could.”
He finished in 70th place with a time of 22 minutes, 9 seconds on the 3.1-mile Millennium Park course, well off his usual pace.
“I just wanted to finish. I didn’t really care, as long as I finished the race,” he said.
It was difficult for his coach to watch, because she is also his mother.
“It’s very hard to see him, I give him credit for toughing it out and finishing, but at the same time I don’t want to see him injured,” Boyle coach Grace Jameson said. “He’s very frustrated, but it was extremely important for him to do this meet one way or the other.”
Jameson said he was more frustrated by the fact that he had to drop out of his previous race at Danville six days earlier.
“It’s my 11th season, and it’s the first time I’ve ever had to DQ myself, so that was not fun. I was kind of beat up the rest of the day,” he said.
He had been looking forward to finishing his cross country career with a good season when he went to the starting line for that race at Wilmore.
