Ana Clemons

Along with Small, Ana Clemons ‘14 has had surgeries on both her feet this past year as well. In her case, running was the cause for the surgery.

“I had surgery on both of my feet because of running, they got worn down and basically the pressure on my feet moved my bones over so they had to put screws in them and reposition both feet,” Clemons said. “It was painful running on them, but it was so worth it.”

Over the past three years of participating in cross country and track, the pressure of the impact of running began wearing down the bones in Clemons’ feet, her pinky toe bones and her metatarsal on her left foot were being bent inwards. Last winter she went to the doctor and was told she would have to have surgery done so in the beginning of November, 2013, Clemons had her first surgery on her left foot.

“It’s been like this for at least three years but I told them that I wanted to finish my last season of cross country so they waited until that was over in the fall,” she said. “It got worse as time went on. It got more and more bent, and they told me that would happen but I didn’t really care as long as it could be fixed, I just wanted to run my last year.”

After her first surgery Clemons was on crutches for two weeks and a boot for four. Three days later she had her second surgery done on her right foot and was on crutches for a week and a boot for three weeks.

When she came out of surgery, Clemons was told she would have a four month-long recovery and might not be able to run track.

“It was really hard for me to because I put so much focus and effort into doing cross country,” Clemons said. “And it was really hard to know that I can’t run, that I can’t choose to run. It sucks to not be able to run. So that’s probably what’s been hardest but I’m glad I did it because I hope to eventually be able to run like I used to.”