Lacing Up, Crossing My Fingers and Training For a Half Marathon

It's been 8 months since my last Running for Tish update. Soon after my last post I began my first year of teaching. I was still unable to run because of my injury and on top of that I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water with a very difficult class, home visits and parent teacher conferences. Jumping in and taking over someone else's class in the middle of the year is not as simple as it sounds! Running definitely became less of a priority for me because of this. I did make it to the gym a few times during the school year though and found that I was able to run again which was extremely exciting for me even if I couldn't find the time to enjoy it! It became even more difficult to find time when my son joined the track team. The time that I had previously said wasn't there for running really wasn't there! Spring went by and I continued not exercising much. One thing I remember my college professors telling me was that once in the school setting I would be surrounded by food...all the time. This proved very true. There were always treats (cake, cookies, brownies, donuts) and on top of that part of my job is to sit down with my preschoolers and eat breakfast and lunch with them. As my exercising slowed and pretty much halted all together, I began allowing myself to eat more and more foods that I knew I shouldn't. By the beginning of June I had gained 8 pounds and was ready to get myself back under control. In the last 45 days I took control of my health and fitness have lost 10 pounds (yay!) and started running again.

 

So now I am in the middle of training for my half marathon. My longest run so far has been 7 miles. Thursday I plan to move that number up to 7.5 to 8 miles. My IT band still bothers me and my hip gets aggravated and threatens occasionally. I try not to get too excited about being able to run the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon because it was so devastating last year when I had to drop out. It used to be when I ran it was really fun and carefree and I loved that. Now during a run I am constantly evaluating myself. I carefully consider each ache and pain and determine if I can or should continue. I will not make the same mistake of running through the pain and finding myself unable to run at all. I found a product that has been an amazing help. It is a simple compression band that is worn just above the knee. It holds my IT band in place and is either a great placebo or actually relieves a lot of the pain and irritation caused by my IT band.

Hopefully I will be able to keep adding on the miles and soon I will be able to 13.1 miles. When I run I try to enjoy the moment and remember that I love to run. I look forward to a day when I can run without constant worry that my next step will be the one that hurts too much. I run because I love to and I hope I never lose that. I will keep lacing up, crossing my fingers and training for my half marathon and if I'm lucky I'll be at the starting line September 28th!

 

 

Time For Crutches

I haven't posted in here for a few weeks because nothing has really changed. It has now been eight weeks since that horrible run that has had me limping around, whining and complaining to anyone who will listen. As I had said before my IT band healed up completely but my hip continues to be very painful and won't let me run at all. Up until today I have been going to the gym regularly. While there I lift weights at use the elliptical machine. I began thinking that since so much time had passed maybe it would be good for me to start trying to build muscle around the hip. Last Friday I tried this and I have been in much worse pain ever since. I am thinking that building muscle probably is not the answer. So...like anyone who has something wrong with them and access to google, I decided to try and figure out what is going on in my irritatingly painful hip injury. What I came across as a likely answer is a hip stress fracture. I am keeping this internet diagnoses loosely as what is possibly going on. I am aware that the internet is not the best doctor.

I came across a list of three symptoms that if a patient has them then it is pretty much for sure a stress fracture and I have two...maybe three. The one that surprised me the most was that I cannot lie on my back and lift my leg while it is straight. I had no idea that I couldn't do that until I tried yesterday. Ouch. So I have decided to stop using my hip as much as possible. I am going to walk around on crutches and not do anything that aggravates it. Hopefully this will help. It will heal...eventually.

I wanted to mention that Tish would have been 38 this Friday. I will be raising my glass to her memory and keeping her in my heart where she always is. 

One Lazy Week

So it has been a long week of babying my injured IT band and honestly I am extremely tired of it. Resting it, massaging with a foam roller (which hurts A LOT by the way) and stretching it out are starting to become despised activities in my daily routine.

I just want to run. I want to put on my running shoes, pop in my headphones and head out the door. That should be as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately after a full week off of running my IT band is not completely healed yet. Every night I hope to wake up feeling good and ready to run but instead find myself in pain. Today has been the best day yet. I haven't had to limp around and I really feel like it is getting better. I even did a leg workout at the gym just to remind those muscles that I haven't forgotten about them! They do have to carry me for 13.1 miles in just 17 days from today!!

I am very hopeful that tomorrow will be the day that I can run again. Hopefully I will be able to put this injury behind me and move forward. I do not have much time left to get in the amount of training that I had wanted before my race but I know that I can do it. I am determined to run and finish this race, hopefully comfortably (reasonably so anyway) and without pain but I will complete it no matter what. I may have to adjust my pace expectations and go easy a little easier on myself but I will be there, ready to run  and excited to cross the finish line. My heart will motivate my legs to continue.

And just for fun...