Patience; the new endurance sport.

Stretched and ran 2 on the treadmill 12m/m.  PT this morning, and then I'll do 2 more tonight.  Yay!  I'm moving.

I did physical therapy yesterday for 2 1/2 hours.  I was sore after I came home, but this morning was great.  I can still feel that strange hard lump in my hip and it feels so weird, but it no longer hurts.  Best of all I can sit down, even for long periods of time, without pain.  That went on for so long --like a year-- I actually thought it was arthritis in my hips.  Who knew it was where my hamstrings connect to my  pelvis.  I felt pretty good today, so I ran 3 easy miles.  The posture I'm practicing is so different than the way I normally run.  It's challenging NEW places in my legs and back. But I'll do whatever it takes to end the wrong kind of pounding to my lower back and hips. I made an appointment to run the canyon with Catherine on Saturday.  She's busy trying to build her mileage up to 60 miles a week and I'm struggling to not break a hip (or whatever).  I can always hope for good weather....Haven't these days been golden delicious? I wish it could just go on forever. This is absolutely my favorite time of year....maybe because it's my birthday time of year....

That extra half mile yesterday (that plus I ramped it up to a whole 10.54 minutes a mile) cost me.  I spent the night waking up from the tenderness in my hip/butt again and it hurts again to sit down.  So I'll do my PT and stretching today, and go back to doing 2 in the a.m. and 2 in the p.m. at the most astonishingly slow rate that would make any of you reading this cry to imagine the slow motion effort of anti-running. I've really got to throw in the either some trampoline running, the stationary, or aqua swimming if this goes on another week.  I've gained  7 pounds since the end of September when I started the taper for SG.  You just forget how many calories your body doesn't need without the running.  You can live on nothing really when you're not doing anything heroic.

I'm not going to include the 8 miles on the bike here.  This is a running blog so I refuse.  But for the sake of history and personal reference I need to remind myself that I did in fact cross train.  The same tendon causing all the trouble on my ischial tuberosity acted up again when I dared to run a  single extra 10 minute mile on Tuesday.  The PT suggested I keep running 2 miles in the a.m. slowly, but asked that I reserve my high intensity work outs to the stationary or water jogging/swimming.  So I did 8 miles on the bike after 2 miles on the treadmill.  This sucks-- but it's better than nothing.

 I met Catherine at the mouth of the canyon at the indulgent hour of 8:00 a.m. I think I've gained all of the weight that she has lost since she started running more miles.  That never happens to me.  I never lose weight,  I just gain it when I slow down or stop running.....It was a gorgeous windless morning.  All the trees are yellow, gold, and red.  It was 100% warmer than even some of those early morning spring and summer runs.  It was just so cold last year.  But the mellow warmth and beautiful light was insipiring.  I stopped at 2 to stretch and taught Catherine about my new stretching regime and taught her a few knee/tendon tricks.  Since I got back, I've been clipping roses and cleaning up the yard with my kids this afternoon.  My my hip/hamstring is just bothing me a little.  I tried to keep it slow, but we did 9:30's the same as always.  I hope my body won't punish me tommorrow for my run today.  I keep thinking I should be rewarded for being so cautious and proactive in healing myself. Mabye I really would have torn that tendon right off my ischial tuberosity/piriformis had I kept going, who knows. I just wish I was rewarded with a little faster recovery as a reward for my good judgement.  I feel like the lessons on patience keep coming back again and again in every aspect of my life.  I guess it won't go away until I'm finally beaten down. So why do I keep fighting it?