1. your recovery seems very reasonable to me. i think you were smart, conservative, and included a nice balance of rest and active recovery.
2. someone with more expertise should probably handle this one, but my two ideas are:
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flexor hallucis longus tendonitis:
http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8033941/physioadvisor-ankle-injuries-ankle-pain-treatm.htm (more commonly produces ankle pain, but it can irritate the arch, especially when you move your big toe. i've had this before and the "tug" you mentioned is the perfect description of how that felt for me).
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morton's neuroma:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004542/