Conditions + Treatments
Foot Injury/Condition
I am originally from Winston Salem, North Carolina. My husband and I moved to Birmingham shortly after our marriage in 1982. I have been active my whole life, swimming, playing tennis and golf, and an occasional run in college. When we moved to Birmingham, my husband had signed up for the Vulcan 10K one fall. As I was cheering him on, it occurred to me, I can do that. So, I did. My husband loves to tell people he bought me my first pair of running shoes and hasn’t been able to catch me since.
The first marathon I ever ran was on a whim. It was the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL. My goal was to eventually qualify for the Boston Marathon. My second marathon was the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. I was a member of the Bell Runners, a group that ran for special needs children at the Bell Center. I ran for a friend of mine. Her child has Down syndrome and I ran in his honor.
After this, I qualified for the Boston Marathon. In 2006, a championship-style competition, World Major Marathons, was created for marathon runners was created. The World Major Marathons is a points-based competition founded on six major marathon races recognized as the most high-profile on the calendar, the series comprises annual races for the cities of Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo.
I had done New York, Boston, and Chicago. London was part of the World Majors and that was on my bucket list to complete. I only had 3 left to finish the World Majors. London was in 2019, Berlin was in Fall of 2020, and Tokyo was also in 2020. However, 8 days before I was leaving for Tokyo, the world shut down due to the pandemic.
I was so upset. That was 20 weeks-worth of training down the drain. Even though I didn’t know when I would get to go, I kept up my training and ran as much as I could. I was on an 8-mile run one day, when I tripped and broke my foot. I went to physical therapy, and they got me in touch with Dr. Ricardo Colberg at Andrews Sports Medicine.
I had been to Andrews Sports Medicine before because my doctor for the longest time was Dr. Cherie Miner, who is now retired. When I called to schedule an appointment, Dr. Colberg was able to see me the next day. My last visit with him was in February and that was the first time I had seen him without a mask! At this point, I was desperate. I wanted to be able to run the marathon I was in in September. I broke my foot in July and was hoping I could be back training before September.
I had to take it easy, but I would continue to ride my Peloton every day to keep my fitness up. In January of this year, I was running at Oak Mountain State Park, and decided to do a 10-mile race in the midst of a 20-mile run, and unfortunately, I strained my hamstring.
I saw Dr. Colberg again and he recommended me to rest and not run until the marathon if I wanted to participate in it. I am very grateful for such a wonderful doctor. He took good care of me. He helped me achieve my dreams of getting the 6-star medal. I received a medal in 2020 for the marathons I had run and in 2023 I got my 6-star medal! I also got the Guinness World Record Medal for running.
There were about 3,062 people in the race and only 25-30 people got the 6-star medal. I am so fortunate to have been one of the people to have received it. I would without a doubt recommend Andrews Sports Medicine and Dr. Colberg. I think it is important to see a doctor that can understand and support what you love to do. Dr. Colberg is definitely that doctor.
His staff and PA were so helpful and the practice as a whole is so efficient! Thank you Dr. Colberg for helping me reach my goals and achieve Victory Over Injury!
