Sara McLarty’s Press Release

To all my Family, Friends, Supporters, and Fans:

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement over the past 14 months as I have struggled with the biggest set-back of my athletic career: a painful and aggravating foot injury. It was extremely unlucky that I was in pain and unable to train and race at such a critical time in an Olympic quad. Not qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games was disappointing but just not being able to train for a decent finish at the Trials races was extremely frustrating.

During the past year, I have reasonably attempted all the popular (and unpopular) treatment methods for my condition. Nothing was able to cure the injury or alleviate the symptoms. Eventually, I decided to take a mental and physical break for two months to allow my mind and body to rest, heal, and recover.

At the end of August, I was eager to start training and I even went for a couple of short jogs. I very disappointed when my foot started hurting after just four short runs on the grass. I finally realized that it was time to take the next step and research an invasive procedure to remedy my foot pain.

A few days later, I was on the pool deck when my swim coach introduced me to the father of a swim-team-mate. Dr. Funk is a Foot and Ankle Orthopedic surgeon in Orlando. He sat down with me on the pool deck for 30 minutes and gave me more information and better answers than I had ever received. Not only is he a specialist for my specific injury, he's a triathlete and marathoner!

I could not be any happier and confident about the procedures that Dr. Funk is going to perform on my left foot at 7:00am on the morning of Monday, October 13^th. I honestly believe that my career as a triathlete would be over if I could not find a solution for the pain. This has given me hope that I will be back on the starting line to give some of the best athletes in the world a 'run for their money'!

The recovery time is very short…after just two weeks I can get back in the pool and walk in sneakers! Around six weeks I should be able to start jogging lightly and all the reports say that full activity is allowed at just three months! Perfect timing for the 2009 season!

I will continue to post updates on my blog and I promise to write a great story about my surgery experience (the Doc tells me I'm getting 'happy drugs') as soon as I am awake and coherent! If anyone has any questions, I will answer the best I can. Thank you all for your continuing support!

Later, Gators,

Sara McLarty:)