For endurance athletes, the line between pushing limits and pushing too far is razor thin.
For long-distance runner Emily, that line became painfully clear.
When she shared her experience with injury, recovery, and her return to running, we knew it was a story worth telling exactly as she lived it.
Below is Emily’s story, in her own words:
A Tale of Two Ankles
In 2021 I was preparing for my 4th Badwater Race and I ruptured my left posterior tibial tendon about a month before the race during one of my final routine training runs. I knew the race was off the table at that point so I focused on trying to rehab the ankle. However, 3 ortho consults all said the same thing - I'd need surgery.
9 months later in March of 2022, I had an FDL tendon transfer, a double osteotomy and a spring ligament repair on my left ankle. It was a brutal recovery that took close to 2 years.
In that time I also needed an additional surgery as I had fractured my 5th metatarsal bone trying to come back too quickly without any real foot/ankle support and it required another 6 weeks on crutches while the bone fused to more new hardware. Talk about a miserable time! I didn't get to really start running again until early 2024.
The Setback
In 2025, I had some of the best runs of my life. I beat my 15 year 100 mile personal record in April of 2025 (at 50 years old) by an hour and half. Last fall I beat that new personal record by another 70 minutes. By this time I had some nagging start in my right ankle that was all too familiar.
I bought several new ankle braces including different ASO lace up braces. I tried more rigid insoles, taping, stability shoes, etc. I thought I was making progress so I raced another 100 miler in February, and while I managed to beat my 5 previous finish times, I knew when I finished that my right ankle was not happy.
I had seen TayCo Brace, but at the time, thought that I couldn't justify the cost. However, I had already registered for a few big races this year so I got it. I trained in it and made sure I used it on all of my road and trail runs.
"What's funny is the amount of money I spent on all of the alternatives was way more than what I spent on TayCo Brace - go figure."
The Comeback
Fast forward to Salton Sea, in April of this year and I decided to try it out there. I have 7 finishes here so I knew what was expected of this tough 81 miler and I used the brace literally from the start line. And it held up beautifully for 35 miles! Unfortunately, my teammate and I timed out at mile 35 so we had to drop but I could NOT have made it that far without the brace.
I knew going in it was a long shot (especially because I already had been told by my ortho that I would need an almost identical surgery on the right ankle, later this year) but I'm so happy I tried. And it was SO NICE having no lingering post-race foot/ankle soreness even after 35 miles on a severely injured right ankle. The brace was comfortable and I never felt the need to take it off. It was what allowed me to stay out there as long as we did.
The Future
What comes next? I'll be having surgery later this summer but I'm going to treat this as a scientific experiment. My hope / expectation is that I'll be able to move from the heavy metal full lower leg post-surgical ankle brace to the post-surgical TayCo RecoverX Brace and then to my trusty TayCo AthleticX Brace that got me to the Salton Sea start line. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do that in much less time than 2 years, and without reinjuring the foot/ankle when I start back up.
In short, I love this brace and the ability to get out there, even if only to hike with my two very active vizslas, Miksa and Toofy, right now.
