WASHINGTON—WHEN WASHINGTON University Orthopedics doctor Heidi Prather diagnosed me with stress fracture in my left pelvis last August, her prescription was surprisingly simple. “Six weeks of rest, 1,200 mg calcium and 800 IU Vitamin D daily,” she said.

I, however, wanted something even simpler, like a magic pill or shot that would heal my hairline crack in a snap. Running across America since Mother’s Day, I was in St. Louis, Missouri, ready to run into Illinois and the last third of an amazing country en route to New York. But no such pill or shot exists, and everybody pointed out how lucky I was that good old-fashioned vitamins and minerals were all it took to make me better.

Good to the bone

Besides promoting cardiovascular health, lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and keeping you trim, running has been known to increase bone density. Run too much too soon, thereby leaving your bones with little time to recover from the previous and repetitive impact incurred during exercise, and you yield the opposite result. Women who join endurance running are more likely to suffer from lower bone density than their sedentary counterparts: Higher, more intense workouts decrease levels of estrogen, the hormone critical to bone health.

In addition to assisting muscle growth, calcium strengthens bones and teeth and is abundant in such foods as milk, cheese, tofu, leafy green vegetables, calcium-fortified orange juice and fish you can eat whole. The recommended daily allowance of this vital mineral depends on one’s gender, age, and whether one is pregnant or lactating, but on the average, the RDA of calcium for adults is anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 mg. Taking in more than the acceptable amount of calcium hurts more than helps: Not only does it affect kidney function, it also impedes the absorption of iron, zinc, magnesium and phosphorous.

Vitamin D works in tandem with calcium by ensuring optimum absorption. Many associate this vitamin with direct exposure to sunlight, but vitamin D is also found in cod liver oil, dairy products, egg yolk, cereal, catfish, tuna and salmon. WebMD reports that 200 IU is the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D for individuals up to 50 years; the dosage increases as one gets older because skin produces less Vitamin D with age.

Experts from this site assure that one is unlikely to overdose on Vitamin D—unless it has Vitamin A, that is. Excess Vitamin A has been linked to poor bone health and birth defects among young women.

Immediate effects

I’m not exactly a fan of vitamins, but I’ll have to admit I was surprised by the almost immediate effects of calcium and Vitamin D on my injury.

The day after my first intake, I felt a noticeable decrease in the pain on my left pelvis. The pain continued to subside each day I took the supplements. I actually felt more pain relief from calcium and Vitamin D than I did from all the anti-inflammatory medications I had been taking for my stress fracture.

I also started drinking milk regularly—vanilla-flavored soy milk (which I prefer) and cow’s milk mixed with vanilla-flavored whey protein, which aids in muscle recovery and rebuilding.

As for exercise, I followed Dr. Prather’s advice to lay off running or fast walking for six weeks. It’s a tall order for someone who had been running 30 miles almost daily since May, but a small sacrifice considering what could have happened had I continued. “You would have needed surgery for that if you had gone on,” said Marla, the sympathetic technician who assisted me in my first MRI and my second one a month and a half later.

To keep some level of fitness, I performed isometric exercises on my legs, did leg extensions in the shallow part of a swimming pool, and went for easy walks—a few minutes at first, gradually building up to four pain-free miles.

Like the time I got the call about my stress fracture, Dr. Prather phoned me about the result of my second MRI while my running partner Mat Macabe, American photographer Danny Titus, and I were buying lunch. “Hi Joy, it’s Heidi Prather, your stress fracture has healed. Yey!” she said, unable to hide her glee. Apparently, so was a torn muscle I didn’t know about.

“So I’m good to go?” I asked, just to make sure I heard right.

“You’re good to go!” she replied cheerfully. “Good luck and be careful.”

We wasted no time getting back on the road. Early next day, Danny dropped Mat and me off at the city limit of St. Louis, the spot we reached before my six-week time out. After a prayer of thanks, we ran easy for 10 miles to the beautiful Arch, the landmark that signified the end of the road for us in Missouri, crossed the bridge to Illinois, and ran eight miles from East St. Louis to Fairview Heights via St. Clair Avenue.

The sun was shining, the air was crisp and nippy, and the leaves in the trees were changing from a vibrant green to a fiery red and yellow. It felt great to be out and running again. The day after that, all the muscles from my waist down to my feet hurt. This time, it was a good kind of hurt.

The author is expected to reach New York next month. Takbong Pangarap is presented by Western Union and sponsored by Asiana Airlines, Smart Communications, Adidas, Sony Ericsson, Pinay In Action, Shopwise, HSBC, SportsAde, Peninsula Manila, Asian Journal, and Philippine Online Chronicles.