Sunday, April 15, 2012

Down But Not Out

The following blog post is mostly a self-indulgent rant about my latest hip flexor injury --for that matter, this blog is mostly self-indulgent in general. Read on if you must....

We had the most amazing vacation about 6 weeks ago in Sedona. Stayed for free in a friends house, ate in restaurants, hiked around, and I ran a few too many miles on the local trail system (that is NOT a euphemism for "I went whoring"). I never felt an injury, and my road miles had been at an all time high. When I got back to Phoenix, my left hip bothered me a bit during runs. Not exactly painful but something was going on. annnnnnd......

So, I decided to do the right thing. I increased my running mileage, speed, overall intensity, shoved thoughts of medical professionals out of my T-Rex porno-ridden mind, and carefully crafted a web of lies about the steadily increasing pain. What was likely a mild strain escalated into a medium strain, and finally became a 'hurtin' strain. I have been limping while walking. I've looked on the internet, and its some kind of Hip flexor strain, a bursitis, or possibly a stress fracture. Last Sunday when I ran 12 miles, it seemed to loosen up on the run and got numb. And that had happened on all the runs prior to that, so I thought it might work to run through the pain. And it even stayed mild through the rest of the days when I ran, but the pain really set in the next day and the day after. I finally decided to take a week off from running and stretch and cross train. This has been difficult because I felt like I was making such good progress, but the healing wasn't happening, and I've heard stories about people who ignore medical problems..... AND THEIR PROBLEMS GET WORSE!! It's true.. that I have heard that. I can't verify that problems can get worse. Check with your doctor and then blog it for the rest of us.

Now, for those of us who put in for the NY Marathon lottery system, we have one more week to wait to see if we got lucky. There is something like an 8% chance of being drawn if you live outside of the tri-state area. The qualifying time was ridiculous (3:10 and it gets even tougher next year), and the charity option is for "good" people. Based on that, I will either go for a sub 2:00 PR 1/2 marathon in Pasadena next month, or have a fun run and set my sites on the Central Park finishing line.

One thing is for sure; injuries should not be ignored by most people.

1 comment:

Christina said...

I feel for you and your injury. 4 weeks ago I pulled a hamstring. The frustrating thing is I was doing sooo well. Here's a thought...maybe it was the hills. I too ran the SM race along with other hill training and here I worrying about what to do with my upcoming race and my hip/hamstring. Something that has helped me is ART. There is a guy down in Ahwatukee that does it if you're interested. He's a cocky, arrogant guy but he's an ironman so he gets the importance of running. P.S. good job with the SM race.