Denouement

Ran with Ali and MacK.  Felt kind of like a zombie.  Needed a little more sleep the night before. 

First running day of Feb but it felt just like Jan.  15F, and my fingers were frozen by the end.

Ave pace 8:09

weight 121-122ish (good Kelli's party didn't totally do me in)

Met with MacK, ran with her for just over 7.5, then continued on, scared a couple of ladies running as I came up on them, and one ended up being a friend from my church.  About 3 degrees warmer today.  17F at the coldest as I drove home, my house was 22F.

Ave pace 7:57

weight 122

The early morning workouts begin! Woke at 4:07.  Ran with MacK.  Paced her through a 4 mile tempo.  Her stomach started to hurt and at 2 miles she expressed a wish to stop but she was strong and made it to four miles.

Ave pace 7:45

weight 122

Met MacK and ran toward SF.  Her foot was hurting her, so she convinced me to leave her with 1.5 to go, and that she would walk, so I ran fast to the car, but I think she kept running and was only a minute behind and I missed her because I went around the first block the wrong way.  You should have seen me barreling down that neighborhood street, though, trying to get to her as fast as possible without accidentally running her over.  I never found her, but her car was gone when I circled back.  I am still looking for definitive evidence that she is alive (the text she sent could have been sent by her murderer, and though less likely, her blog post could have been too--it was longer than usual. . .).

ave pace 7:55

weight 121

Treadmill is going to be more a part of my life for tax season, it saves me time.  Woke up at 4:07, ran 4, then bathroom and stretch, then ran three more.  worked down to 8mph after warming up

weight 122

Met MacK and TylerS and a new guy on the blog RichC at 5:30, then we met up with Ali and the SF group at 6am.  We pulled away from Ali and MacK at around 6-7 miles as Ali and MacK made some funny jabs at me, seeing how long I could still hear them.  Thanks ladies!  I love you too, and spandex looks great on you too!  Went up Harry's and that's where I felt a little winded.  It was nice to do my longer run at a fast easy pace.  It will be hard to get in any quality with my reduced sleeping time.  Still, I am excited to do some faster stuff next week.    Sleep level's been tolerable, but its a bit of a grind to get 6 hours day after day.  Only 10 weeks until the end.  Nice!

ave pace 7:38

Bad sleep.  Often happens after a night of good sleep.  Ran 4 on the treadmill.  My right glute is in pain again, started acting up last night.  Don't have time to go to doctor, but will if it doesn't go away.

weight 125 (dang)

Ran with MacK.  Weather was actually good to start, we decided to do 12 and it started to snow at around 3 miles so we knew we needed to head out 6 so we would have to run back six.  Stomach empty at the start of the run, but had enough energy.  MacK made me laugh just as I stepped on a piece of ice and I went down, but in a funny way.  I was lucky a limb didn't fall off today the way I was sliding around.  Nothing like treadmill running to make me appreciate road running with a friend.

ave pace 7:57

weight 123

Betcha thought I didn't run today!

Got up at 4am, hit the treadmill.  This was my first "speed" workout since the marathon. Sort of a reintroduction to speed.  "Hello, I am fast running."  "Hi, fast running, it's nice to meet you.  You feel uncomfortable."

After a 2 mile warm up, started at 6:44, then to 6:40 after .75, then in the last 1.75 miles I upped the pace gradually until I was at 6:17 for the last .5 mile.  It was hard, and especially monotonous on the treadmill, but I told myself I needed to set a precedent of not giving up and just slogging through the miles.

Work is busy, but I am not buried or hopelessly stressed =)

weight 122

Slept in until 4:07am!  Met MacK and ran easy.

ave pace 8:15

weight 123 -- peanut brittle indiscretions, and it doesn't even have any chocolate in it.

On the treadmill, boring but faster.  7:30 pace after warming up for 1/2 mile.  

weight 123

Met MacK and TylerS in SF.  Ran 2 miles warm up.  During the warm up I noticed I was having a hard time breathing.  I think its the typical sleep deprivation, caffiene effects I experienced last year.  Also right glute hurt.  Stretched, then started a 4 mile tempo, starting at Osborne's, then around the golf course.  So first mile is uphill, then next mile is downhill with some uphill at the end, then gradual .5-1% downgrade for last two.  

 Splits from last time I did this in December were (6:47,6:13, 6:05, 5:54)

1 - 6:24, MacK hung with us for about half a mile, but continued to push at her pace

2 - 6:14

3 - 6:10

4 - 6:06, 6:14 ave pace Tyler ended up 2-4 seconds ahead, and I am sure he could have done even better if I could have been up there with him.

Felt like death after the tempo.  Glute hurt and felt like a zombie, but felt better after a mile slow.

ave pace overall 7:34

Ice bath (because of glute)

weight 121

Dang it! Bum hurt pretty bad yesterday.  Took a walk and stretched in the afternoon, which didn't seem to help it.  Iced it and stretched in evening.

This morning it felt good for about 5 minutes, then could feel it a bit as I walked to the treadmill.  I walked for a bit to warm up, hurty, then started a slow jog, hurty, when I started gasping, clenching teeth, I thought of MacK and her jump start she would do before she knew she had a stress fracture, and I turned the stupid machine off.

The good news is I didn't have to run on the treadmill.  The bad news is I didn't get to run on the treadmill, well not for long.

Warning - PG level expletives.

 Holy mother of crap!  Second day in a row of too much pain to run.  I ran about .6 out with MacK, stopped and stretched.  The pain was as bad as yesterday, but I enjoyed being with her and didn't want to stop.  On the way back I was at first jogging but was laughing too much which made my bum hurt so I had to start walking because I wasn't going to stop telling my funny story.  So we walked the rest of the way.  I am going to beg for a dctr appointment today, camp out until Dr. Brady can see me.  I hate how everyone but me got the day off yesterday.  That just delays my treatment by one day. 

Crap crap double crappity crap.

Update - went to Dr. Brady.  First was the rubdown and hot stone treatment with Megan, then she put the stem patches on me for 15 min, and that felt so good.  It felt like worms crawling around between the four patches, placed about 6 inches apart in a square.  Sounds gross from that description but it felt so good.  Then Dr. Brady, questions about how it felt, ultrasound, massage therapy, chiro adjustments, stretching, and the grand finale, electro acupuncture, and he even favored me with an extra long needle coming in from the side, which he had to push in with several strokes, it was long.  Eek.  The diagnosis is inflammation/irritation of the joint where my tailbone and my pelvic bone meet, its called the SI joint or something.  He said one of the bones meeting at that joint is the same bone Josse's been talking about with her injury, the sacrum?  Anyway, he says no running until my next treatment (Thursday), but that he could tell I didn't let it go long, and my muscles and joints reacted well to the stretching and stuff, much better than his bad cases with this problem  IB 3x in the next day and icing 3x/day until the next treatment.  Now, where are my pills.  Oh gosh, how will I cope with not running for another couple of days?

Let the slack and indolence begin.  Guess that means I get to go to work early.

GRRRRRRR.  (that's me growling at my scale).

No major indiscretions eating wise.  Had a 44 oz drink that was 2/3 coke, 1/3 diet coke, and had hot chocolate for dessert.   That was it for badness.

SI joint still sore, even as I wake up this morning and walk around the house.  I would think even pool running would increase soreness right now.

Have Dr. appt this afternoon.

The humiliation is now complete.  I've got a chinese herbal patch on my bum.  

Went to Dr. Brady's yesterday afternoon.  Because I didn't feel better than I did the first time I came in and told him so he told me I still shouldn't be running, Saturday at the earliest.  He gave me all the same treatment as last time + chinese herbal patch.  He said my body was cooperating with the adjustments and stretching better, and that I was rolling on the table (constantly going from belly, to side to back, then to belly again, etc) with less discomfort (I guess I let my discomfort show - I'm a real baby), so that's about it for the good news.

Feel the muscles atrophe from inactivity.

 No sharp pain yet this morning.  Just a dull soreness.

Sleeping in on a Saturday is a rare treat. 

My SI joint pain has been gradually getting better, just some lingering soreness.  Dr. Brady said I could run this afternoon, since afternoon runs allow your body to be more warmed up, if I was feeling better.  I am improving and feeling better, but I have to weigh the benefits of a dopey 4-6 mile run, with the drawbacks of most likely making it more sore.  Since tomorrow is Sunday and the sanctioned day off, by skipping my dopey run this afternoon I get two more days of rest for my injury, and I think that will do me more good in the end than burning off 500-600 calories.  The decision is surprisingly easy to make.

Now were are my big girl jeans?  I want to comfortable today. . .

Walked .25, then started running, soreness started while walking, worse pain while running, not sharp, but it makes my right leg tighten, right down to the front of my calf.  Have another dr appt today.  Bone scan?  I would expect any minor injury to go away for sure with this much rest.  So I am definitely in major injury territory.

Update - went to Dr. Brady's, all the usual, except he worked my right calf and ham, where I am getting tight when running.  We talked quite a bit about my symptoms and he still thinks my symptoms do not indicate stress fracture. I have another appt Friday.  I will likely try to run Thursday or Friday, with nothing in between.  I have no ability to cross train.  No membership, no time.  Driving to Springville to pool run for an hour would take two hours, and I'm just so pressed for time that sounds unpalletable.  Perhaps I'll do it, though.

Convinced myself into pool running.  Sure enough, took 2 hours of my day to "run" 4.5 worth of miles (55 minutes).  It felt good, though.  Got oh so boring pretty quickly.  The lanes are 1/2 shallow, 1/2 deep, so I'd turn around at half way to stay deep.  I did 10x approx 45 sec, on/off, then did 4 or 5 x 1:30 on, 45 sec off (it was about 45 sec for a length), then 3x 3:00 on, 45 sec offAt one point there were three swimmers in my lane with me, and a couple seemed like they were trying to play chicken with me.  I'm really not trying to be a tird, but it's so much easier for a swimmer to manuveur around me than for me to move around them, so I just called their bluff every time.  Only very mild soreness in my SI area.  I actually am feeling much better.  I just need to feel good while running.

time to check in.  Wednesday, pain on the outside of where patches were, in both glutes, yesterday body just felt like it was falling apart, mostly probably because of stress and 13+ hours of work.  

 Today, I have pain in my right bum, sometimes in the traditional place by that joint, sometimes on my "sitting" bone, where I sit.  Didn't want to get up when sitting to read scriptures with the kids, not a good thing.  I have a dr appt tomorrow afternoon, and I want to run before, but I am not sure I will have time and the safest time to try is right before the dr in the afternoon.  Dr. Brady said if not improved by tomorrow will consider steroids, so I want to test it to see how it feels.

Dang, and I am stressed.  Worked so hard yesterday, but could not fall asleep, up until 12:45, but did no work after 10pm, so could have gotten in 2.5 more hours of work, and really should have.  Oh well. 

Going skiing at Deer Valley and then high end seafood buffet in the evening.  Too bad I'll have to ski like a grandma because of an injured bum.  Life sucks then you die.  Ok that's melodramatic, but this is my blog and you're reading it so that makes you the biggest loser :)  Can you tell my husband is out of town?  I have to express myself to the blog.  My apologies.

Fri morning, occasional sharp pains both by my SI joint and lower (sitting bone).  Attempted to run before Dr. Brady appt at 2:15.  Last appt he was debating whether to give me steroids so I needed to give him more data. It was so lovely to run at all, and to run in the sun, and for it to be decently warm (39F).  I could feel soreness, but it wasn't jaw clenching and it didn't cause my whole right leg to tighten up, so I was very happy overall. I ran on the river trail toward a potty, but they are still closed for the season, and since I drink alot at work I had to go, so I ran to the Pachev home.  They graciously let me use their bathroom, and Sasha and Ben were toeing the line for a run together, so i joined them for just under a mile as I ran back to the Drs.  

 Dr. Brady said he'll give me another week before ordering a bone scan (if I don't improve, slight chance of stress fracture).  I am tender on my sitting bone, so he and Megan tag teamed me and worked me over pretty good.  I felt really good the rest of the day.  Drove up to SLC to have a night/day away from the kids.   We went to the Market Street grill and shared an appetizer and dessert.  The dessert was a to die for cake, that was almost flourless, tasted like a chocolate candy bar with a hint of carmel.  So good.

Sleep in in a hotel room, then Paul brought in lots of breakfast to me in bed.  Then we went up to Deer Valley and hit the slopes. 

 I thought I would ski conservatively, but it is so hard to do that.  I just love going fast.  I am not a very skilled skiier (did a couple of blacks, only one with moguls, did some moguls on a double blue a couple of times, but so not graceful and not fun--you can't go fast).  I am all about the thrill factor.  So I barrelled down the hills against my better judgment, did a couple of small jumps and landed in very bad form (not on my face but almost).  Paul went down the mountain at 3:25 (the lift we were on closed at 3:45) because the mountain was getting icy, but I did three more runs before that lift closed.  Yeah, I'm lucky I didn't kiss a tree.  

 No pain while running.  My legs were burning by the end, but not the same type of impact as running so I don't think it hurt my injury.  Got several phone calls from family while on the slopes and three texts from bloggers.  Thanks for the happy bday wishes!  I'm too old for birthdays to be exciting unless you do something fun--skiing definitely makes the sting of turning 32 less.

Seafood buffet after skiing.  Man, there was some seriously rich, good food.  I had fruit, fancy cheeses, snow crab, dungeness crab, lobster crembrulee (which was SOOO good),  two types of soup, some type of fish that I've never had before which melted in my mouth and now I can't remember what its called (starts with an "s"), seared ahi tuna, prime rib, duck, mashed yams, some type of seafood stew, baby back ribs, and I sampled probably 8 types of dessert.  Definitely ate enough for a couple of days.  It was decadent.