hitting a mini-wall

I am not sure what that means....I guess when you are exercising, running or bicycling and stuff, you hit a wall and need to get past it to continue working out. I think I hit a mini-wall. While walking on the treadmill today the pain in my left foot was getting worse. It starts at the top right of the ankle, and shoots into the joint below my big toe. The pain was probably a 5 or 6, but because it hurt everytime I stepped on that foot I guess it wore me down and I started to get teary. Also, I was trying not to hold on to the treadmill while I walked and swing my arms naturally, but I kept getting off balance. Not sure why.

Well, I tried to hide the fact that I was crying and keep walking, but after 10 minutes, I gave up and went to the restroom to sob a little. When I came out I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, leave or try another machine. Someone asked me what the problem was and I told them - crying again - darn waterworks - and she had me try stretching out the backs of my legs and use a tennis ball to stretch the tendons in my feet. That seemed to help a little. I will have to do that more, of course. I then did about 4 minutes on the rowing machine and called it a day.

With no real weight gain and so much pain, I am pretty discouraged. But I have an appointment with someone at the gym tomorrow who is suppose to assess my problem areas and get a game plan set. Also I wonder if I should go to a podiatrist - maybe get steroid injections in my feet again to help the arthritic inflammation.