Two weeks ago, I ran 14 miles along Highway 1 North, Wilder Ranch and the bluffs along the ocean. What an amazing thing to say! I am forever impressed with the beauty of where I now live. It is amazing to run a mile up a trail, round the bend and be staring at hills, trees, farmland and ocean simultaneously. And then to run to where the land meets the ocean and look back at where I’ve just come from. This is just a couple of miles from our house!!
The run itself went fairly well…until about mile 10. I had this pain in my left hip area that had teased me some during my mid-week runs. Well, it came on full strength on this day. Oy vey, that was friggin’ painful!! I was feeling that for a couple of days after the run.
I took it easy the following couple days, allowing my body a legitimate chance to recover. During a 6-mile run the following Tuesday, it flared up again. I missed track practice last week due to a school commitment and we missed the 8-mile run on Saturday because we enjoyed ourselves a li’l too much the night before (oops!). So, I haven’t really been running *sad face* which has given my body some more time to recuperate.
I went to my doctor’s office. I was again referred to physical therapy. Ugh.
This recent retaliation by my body has me frustrated. I understand I am placing a heavy demand on muscles I haven’t used in years, but sheesh, must I have back-to-back issues?! The knee is coming along…lots of focused PT exercises and core strengthening is starting to pay off. Still hurts when I do run, but it’s not debilitating and it is getting better. Now this hip stuff has me worried.
I had a PT evaluation this afternoon and thankfully it is not referred pain from my back muscles, nor is it anything to do with my IT band. It’s everything to do with the trochanter bursa (fluid-filled sac in between the hip-joint). It is not bursitis, thankfully. It’s just irritated with the demands of running longer distances.
All in all I am pretty lucky in that both of my injuries are very treatable with lots of exercise (core strengthening, here I come!) and the right stretches. However, having pain while running is just not fun. It’s not motivating. It’s frustrating as heck!!
And then I am reminded of the much bigger picture of what I am doing and why I am doing it. Greg, one of our honorees in Team in Training, very recently relapsed. He has started chemotherapy again and is confined to a bed in a hospital room. What Greg is going through is so much worse than some knee and hip pain. He is a handsome young man with a lot to live for and has a team of people rooting and raising money for his health (and the health of so many more going through similar treatments).
As nervous as I am for a long run for the first time since I started training, I will have Greg in my thoughts as a reminder of why I decided to do this crazy running thing in the first place. My body and I will work it out. Greg and his body will work it out too.
REMINDER: If you haven’t yet made a donation to LLS for our Team In Training run, please consider doing so. Rick and I aren’t just doing this for our own health, but to raise money for a great cause - we’re 68% of the way toward our fundraising goal, and we need your help! It’s fast and easy, tax-deductible, and helps fund development of a cure for blood cancers!
Fran
Rick
Recent Comments