Chad - I have had plantar fasciatis several times - once because of wearing old shoes and once because of too much tennis.
My chiropractor advised to begin rolling my heel on a tennis ball (while sitting) and then changing to a golf ball and then begin to stand on the golf ball. This will bring tears to your eyes, but it will help break up the tiny calcium deposits that are helping to cause the irritation. Do this several times a day.
Also, before getting out of the chair or out of bed - exercicse your foot - it helps.
Good luck, Sheila Gilbert

Hi Chad. I had similar trouble and like Rickie below, I tried Archmolds in combination with the Brooks Adrenalin shoe and had great success. I hurt my feet in a 15 mile run training for a marathon and they didn't heal up until I got new supportive shoes and also very supportive insoles. The Archmolds have a fairly rigid arch which takes the stress off the bottom of the foot letting it heal up. They also customize to your feet by heating them up in an oven and stepping on them.

I wish you good luck because making it to the starting line of a marathon is MUCH harder than actually finishing the darn thing.

i had a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot (side, though) for over two months. after using the 40% salicylic acid OTC medications with limited success, i went to the "freeze" medications. this essentially killed the wart, with just some residual remaining. what a wonderful relief! while the wart was "live," had to take at 400-800 mgs of ibuprofen to kill the pain to run for any considerable distance.

I got plantar Fascitis 4 weeks before my first marathon (fall of 2004). I had a moderate case of it: pain in the morning when I got up and when I ran it would hurt a lot for the first couple of miles and then become bearable (hardly noticeable) for the rest of the run once it was stretched out. I did a really miserable last long run on it the next week, and then cut back to almost no running for the taper period. I was able to complete my marathon with a reasonable time but not my goal time, and without any major pain other than the initial couple of miles. Immediately afterwards I went to a podiatrist, got custom orthotics, quit running totally for 6 weeks to let it heal while waiting for the orthotics to arrive. I slowly worked back into running again with the orthotics, and then ran the Boston Marathon (7 months after the initial PF injury) with no pain in my foot at all. I have since run 2 more marathons each 6 months apart and have had no foot pain at all.

A training partner of mine got a more severe case, tried to do her last long run on it and had to stop because she was having too much joint pain in her opposite leg (from shifting her gait trying to compensate for the PF pain in her foot).

I believe the key is this:

• Don't do the marathon unless you can stride normally, e.g. don't favor the hurt foot in the first few miles while it loosens up. If you have a severe case of PF this may not be possible.
• Go to a podiatrist now and get custom orthotics, the over the counter ones do nothing for arch support which is the core issue, they just provide some cushioning which is just managing the symptoms. It will take several weeks to get them back, and then you have to gradually break them in before you can run in them, so get started now. It won't help you for this marathon, but will help for recovery and future running.
• Do as little running as possible before/after the marathon. With 2 weeks to go you don't need much running before. The injury has to heal, and only time and rest will do that. The orthotics will help prevent re-injury via the arch support, but you still have to give your foot time to heal.
• Before the marathon focus on rest and inflammation suppressions (roll a frozen water bottle under your foot, you can get an prescription anti-inflammatory but I wouldn't take it the few days before the marathon because they can affect your stomach/digestion for the race.)
• Be patient, this will take months to heal not weeks. It was probably 4-5 months before my foot was totally pain-free.

All of the above are good comments, especially the one about not going barefoot. I have had plantars for about four months and may have found a help. I have cut some 3 mil neoprene and put it under the inserts in my running shoes. I put an extra layer under my left heel as that is where the pain is. I am not sure if this will cure the problem, but I sure can run now and be pain free. I did try two inserts in each shoe but the extra arch support made me really over pronate.