Published: March 13, 2008

Shalane Flanagan ran the 5,000 meters in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2005 world championships in Helsinki. But her left foot hurt so badly in 2005 she could hardly train, and after Helsinki she decided not to run again until she found what was wrong. She went from doctor to doctor, looking for an answer.

Doctor No. 1 said the foot was fractured and there was no quick cure.

Doctor No. 2 said there was an avulsion fracture, in which a bone fragment tears away. No immediate solution.

Doctor No. 3 said there was a calcium deposit. No quick panacea.

There were Doctors 4, 5 and 6 — maybe more, she said — but no relief.

Finally, in April 2006, a breakthrough occurred. Dr. Amol Saxena, a podiatric surgeon in Palo Alto, Calif., said that Flanagan’s tendon appeared to be tearing, and he was about to operate. Minutes before, he took a standing X-ray and found the answer...