A Hair Brain Idea?

Thursdays has been a running day for a long time.  So when I got word of an emergency meeting (re: work), I didn't fret too long.  I couldn't run tonight.  I had to work, after that, it was off to my son's orchestra practice.  My only choice:  simply run to the meeting.

My husband said it was a "hair brain" idea.

Hmph.

So did my son.

Double hmph.

I stuffed my glasses, a pen and some paper, plus my phone into my belt, glad that I came up with such a good idea.  : )  Out the door, I began my run uphill, a pretty tough climb.  Afterwards I ran downhill toward Insterstate 5 (even stopped in to see my youngest and husband at preschool).  After crossing over the river, I ran the road that runs between the interstate and the railroad tracks -- the car dealership ghost town.  And then the run got pretty tough -- tough as in, the road was not runner friendly.  The sidewalk ended and cars raced by at high speeds as I ran on an uneven gravel portion closer to the tracks. 

I made it to the district office with twenty minutes to spare.  Plenty of time to stretch, drink and rinse off my face before heading on in.  I don't really care if people think I'm crazy.  There was one guy a the meeting who congratulated me.  He saw me running by the car dealers as he drove in. 

I decided not to take the same route home.  My plan, hop onto the bike trail and run it on into Doheny beach (I don't call it the "bike trail" usually.  I call it the  "river walk," because it's a paved trail that runs up above San Juan Creek, which is sometimes a river.  Absolutely no one else calls it the "river walk," though.  I get laughs in fact when I call it that).

I guzzled down at the water fountain in a park that overlooks the creek, then headed toward the ocean.  But it turned out that the bridge that crosses the river (creek) was closed.  I headed back into San Juan Capistrano, and ran a much longer route home.  I got to pass my boy's elementary school and finally climbed back toward home as I passed my son's preschool.

I arrived home rather tired, but HAPPY.  Happy for no pain in the hip!

Miles logged this morning:   9.15

Gettin' Better (I hope I am, I hope I am . . . )

I've been doing my physical therapy exercises daily.  And I've ever so slowly been adding core exercises (like planks and reverse crunches.)  Yesterday, I set out for a road run, a little leary.  The wind blew hard as my feet hit the pavement.  I cringed, bracing for the worst.  But I was pleasantly, no . . .  more than pleasantly, more like exhilerated over the fact that I felt no pain, not even an ache in my hip.  I was afraid though, because I could still feel that my hip wasn't right.  It felt weak, as if I was recovering from an accident (in a way, I guess, I was). 

Believe me, I was oh so careful not even to twist in the wrong way.  I focused on posture and form, and gingerly stepped off curbs.  I didn't even cut across the grass woven with thick roots in fear that I'd step on one of those roots and jar my hip.  Didn't touch the sand, just stayed on that pavement for the whole, windy, windy run along the wharf and beaches.

For sure I'm healing.  The trick is, to keep it up.

Miles logged on Tuesday morning:  7.26.  But I feel sad when I look off yonder at those green hills calling out my name. 

Time to Give it a Try

I woke this morning with no hip pain.  I did my physical therapy exercises and stretches.  And being that I had to go to the post office anyway, I thought I'd take a little run.  I headed out in running pants, and a hoodie, zipped to my neck.  Gray skies, it was breezy and pretty cold.  But my hip felt fine.  And oh, about three blocks after taking off, I had that bright yellow hoodie off my shoulders and tied around my waist. 

Flat runs are difficult to come by in my town -- unless I drive down to the marina.  So I ran some minor hills out of the neighborhood, headed toward the sound of live music downtown.  With the roads closed into the town center, I realized that today was Festival of the Wales!  I ran on into the plaza, delighted.  Making eye contact with the band's lead singer, he waved at me as I ran  into the crowd.  The plaza was lined with vendors --different foods, arts and crafts, businesses advertising.

Out of the plaza, I ran across Pacific Coast Highway to the post office.  I crossed the highway and ran the cliff neighborhoods.  I just couldn't take it anymore; my body practically steered itself down the big hill to the marina.  There was a slight ache in my hip, not actual pain, so I figured it was okay.  Definately nowhere near a "2" on a scale of "1 to 10." 

Down at the marina, artists displayed their paintings along the sidewalk as crowds mingled about.  There were face painters, balloon twisters -- all sorts of interesting talents.  I squeezed through, making my way toward the wharf where I was met by another rock n' roll band.  Then I ran through the dry dock to make my way to the jetty -- a run up that road and back was an easy 1/2 mile addition to this run.   Fisherman threw a multitude of lines out into the harbor waters by the jetty.  And a great number of our city's homeless were camped out there as well.  As I ran through, an elderly, seemingly stinkin' drunk man (who could have been homeless) hollared at me, "You're lagging!  You're lagging," all the while shaking his finger and smiling at me with a toothless grin.  I thought to myself, "I know!  I'm doing it on purpose."

I kept up my leisurely pace back to the main road, a little concerned about running the big hill back.  Surprisingly, I took it no problem.  And the hip ached no worse.

Sorry about the hills Doc.  But they were nothing compared to what I'm used to.  And the PT said, "nothing that causes pain."  And the hills didn't cause me pain.  Really. 

Miles logged:  4.0

Back at home:  plenty of stretching, ice and more ice, and something new -- planks! 

Physical Therapy

I went to my first physical therapy session yesterday.  First ever.  It felt odd.  Like I didn't belong there; I was "out of my league."  I'm 45-years-old for goodness sake.  I've got three boys, a husband, a house to clean, laundry and meals to make.  I've got a teaching job and dreams of becoming a published novelist.  Yet, there I was, laying on a table while Kevin (my therapist) poked and proded every muscle to pinpoint just which ones were injured.  He found them all right -- three of them, in my left hip, just under my IT band.

Ouch.

After pinpointing that, he stretched my legs (more so than I ever do), and "rubbed" out my muscles (I don't know what it's called, but it's like a deep, hard massaging).  I did some exercises, had some electrodes attached to the hip with a comfortable pillow-like sack of ice over the injury.  It all lasted an hour and a half exactly.

Like I said.  This was my first time.  I don't even know the words to adequately describe the session.  I know that I felt better afterwards -- looser, but even more so, hopeful.  I felt hopeful that my running aspirations for the year might be met. 

It seems kinda ridiculous that I have running aspirations.  I mean, this is my hobby.  No, it's something more than my hobby.  "Hobby" just seems like the closest word to describe it right now.  What are my running aspirations for the year?  I'm not going to do the 20 races like 2009.  Instead, I just want Calico (check), Silverado footrace (check) and 3 marathons.  In addition to the 3 marathons, I'm aiming for my first 50k. 

Both my doctor and Kevin seemed optimistic about me running the marathon mid-April.  "But now is the time for healing," Kevin warned.  I am under direction to do nothing that causes pain in my hip -- even flat runs.  On the way out, I asked "What if I have only a little pain, can I run?"

"Only a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, then you can," he said.  "But DON'T RUN 12 MILES.  Run 3."

I laughed outloud.

"Long distance runners," he chuckled.  "You're all the same!"

Long distance runner?  That is remarkably odd to me.  I'm no long distance runner.  I'm a dreamer, a drifter of sorts, an escape artist who happens along the way, to chalk up the miles.  That's who I am.

I do have every intention of following doctor's and therapist's orders though.  And so when I woke this morning, and I actually felt pain in my left hip, I chucked my running plans (I went to the gym in the evening, and even chucked the abductor and adductor weights AS ORDERED).  And though I worked-out an hour and a half, I did nothing that caused pain in my hip.

Miles logged today:  0

Therapy orders followed:  100%

ps.  some funny things today:
1)  My 8-year-old boy went for a run today because he was feeling agitated.  He said it makes him feel better to run.
2)  My 10-year-old boy said to me, "Mom, those other runners, they're running FREAKS."  He was giving me a pep talk about following doctor's orders. : )       

Doctor's Orders

Well, the redness on my hip turned to welts, and the welts grew, moving further down my hip. It was time. Time to finally see the doctor. The welts subsided a great deal by the time I made it in. The news is good -- I've got an overuse injury that turned into a strain. He also said that I'm pretty lucky sliding down those slippery hills (leaning into my hip) on Saturday, that I didn't herniate a disc. Good thing. Doctor's orders are: no hill running whatsoever and physical therapy. Good news is, flat running is okay.

Yahoo!

Well, I am bummed about the no trails thing. I can hang though. I can hang.

The good doctor of course said nothing about mileage. He knows about my marathon mid April, so I kinda figured he knew I want mileage. : )

And so on this beautiful day, after getting all the boys off to school, I drove down to the marina. The skies were full of grand clouds, the sun peering out here and there. The weather was deliciously cool.

Marvelous.

My hip ached for the first couple miles. At the campground when I stopped for water, I stretched. Every fountain after that, I stretched some more. Eventually, I ran carefree with no ache. And I would have kept on running had I not needed to get home and do some chores before getting ready for work.

I won't deliberate on this run any longer, except to say,

Miles logged: 11.71

And oh yes, I couldn't resist with the camera phone.

Capistrano Beach -- we call it "Capo" around here (because we don't like talkin' much)

A lot of folk consider this "Capo", but it's actually the far end of Doheny. AND THIS IS THE ASPHALT PARKING LOT : ) We had us a little tsunami the day of the Silverado Footrace.

Lupin! Lovely Lupin.

ps. I so much want to run tomorrow. I'm holding back though, don't want to push too hard. Besides, tomorrow physical therapy begins.

Loosen Up Run

I drove down to the marina for a loosen-up run this afternoon.  I was feeling a bit stiff after the Silverado Footrace.  Mainly my shoulders and upper back ached. 

There was not a parking spot to be found, so I parked across the street and ran into the wharf.  The skies were blue, pelicans hung out on the boat ramps.  People lined the walkway with luggage in their hands for a trip to Catalina.   I felt good, light on my feet.  Then somewhere after crossing onto the island, at about mile three, a shrieking pain suddenly hit my hip.  I didn't shriek.  My hip did.  It felt like someone had stabbed me there with a knife and was twisting it as I ran.  I stopped to stretch, walked a few steps, then took off running again.  Stopped to stretch a couple more times and ran all the way back to my car.

Miles logged:  3.61