Every Race is an Adventure!

My much anticipated visit to Dr. Stephen Aoki (hip specialist) was today. My expectation was that he would review the MRI, see the acetabular labral tear and possible peri-labral ganglion cyst and schedule arthroscopic surgery to repair it. I would then spend the next 3-6 months resting while I heal from both the surgery and the stress fracture in my sacrum.

Instead, after checking my range of motion and twisting my leg around to put my hip in various positions, Dr. Aoki said he doesn't think the pain is from the tear, and that surgery probably wouldn't help. He said if he ran MRI tests on everybody in the building the results would show labral tears in many people who are not experiencing any pain from it at all. He believes the pain is from the stress fracture. Just to make sure, he has ordered a cortisone injection in my hip. I'll get it on Friday. He then wants me to monitor if it improves things during my normal daily movements, and also do a little easy running. If the injection doesn't help, that will confirm that it is not the hip joint that is the source of the pain. If it does help, he will reconsider doing the surgery.

I guess not needing surgery is a good thing, but that means this stress fracture has been hurting me for about 3 years, so its probably not going to heal until I stop running and let it heal. I haven't run for about a month already, and I don't feel any improvement yet. I'm a little discouraged, but there are so many people with challenges that are so much greater than mine that I'm not going to complain.

On a more timely medical note, I took Karen to the ER on Monday morning about 4am with severe chest pains. By Tuesday at 4pm she had been diagnosed (EKG, blood tests, chest x-ray, ultrasound) with gallstones and had had her gall bladder removed. The surgery went well (surgeon has done about 1000 such procedures) and she is recovering well.

What a blessing it is to have access to good medical care. What they are able to do is nearly miraculous. And the medical professionals were so helpful and friendly, even those working the night shifts, and especially the ultrasound technician who was called in early in the morning. She almost seemed happy to be there. I could learn from their examples.

This morning I returned to the University of Utah Orthopedic Center for an x-ray guided cortisone injection in my right hip. The procedure went smoothly. I didn't notice any immediate improvement, which as I understand it I should have (from the anesthetic that was injected along with the cortisone) if pain was coming from my hip joint. I think that indicates that the pain is from the stress fracture in my sacrum near the right SI joint as Dr. Aoki believes. However, it takes a couple of days for the cortisone to take full effect so I'll monitor how I feel. I may go for an easy run early next week to see how that feels as well.

I advise those of you are currently able to run injury free to savor each run and race, and don't overdo it.

Well, today was my first run in about 6 weeks. I went 4 very easy miles (10:45 pace) with Wayne and Larry. Jolene started with us then went up 2000 N while we looped through Lindon. It was great being out with my running buddies again. We're getting old and feeble (excluding Jolene), but at least we're doing it together.

 I was hoping I would feel better than I did this morning, but I got through it okay. To start off with, I woke up with a very painful left knee, which hasn't bothered me for a long, long time. I did some squats before bed last night and didn't notice any pain. I must have tweaked something doing the squats. It didn't affect my running much. I'm not too concerned, unless it doesn't go away soon.

My principal goal in running today was to see how my hip felt. After all the tests and doctor's visits I've determined that the injury I need to focus on recovering from is a sacral stress fracture on the right side. After my visit to Dr. Aoki and the cortisone injection in my hip I've decided the labral tear that showed up on the MRI, apparently common in many people, was a red herring and is not the source of my pain.

After reading many medical web sites and runner forums, I've decided on the following recovery plan (at least for now):

1. Various sites suggested 4-8 weeks of rest. Others recommended up to 3-6 months. Prior to today, I had only one 2.5 mile run in the past 7 weeks, and that was over 6 weeks ago.

2. All sources say to ease back into running. Dr. Aoki suggested I try some easy running after the hip injection to see how things felt. The Red Rock Relay is in about 3.5 weeks. I've decided to start doing some short, easy runs every other day to evaluate how I'm feeling. I'd really like to still do Red Rock. I've been feeling this pain to some degree for about 3 years, and have run a half dozen marathons, an ultramarathon, and several relays during that time. I figure I can handle a few easy runs during a relay. It doesn't matter how fast I run, and the support van is never far away so I can pull out whenever I want if I need to.

3. Some sites recommended a corset, brace, or cane to reduce the stress to speed healing. After some research, I ordered the Serola Sacroiliac Belt. It may or may not help, but I thought I'd give it a try. There was a testimonial video from a doctor/runner who had been hit by a car who wore it to be able to reach his goal to run 50 miles in a week when he was 50, so it looks like I should be able to run in it as well as maybe wear it throughout the day. It should arrive tomorrow.

4. Various sites recommended exercises to strengthen the core and hip muscles. I've been doing some related exercises pretty consistently for about 3 weeks, and plan to continue them indefinitely. 

5. Several sites recommend a diet that includes plenty of calcium and vitamin D. One site said that men age 51 and older should boost their calcium intake anyway. I'm 51. I plan to start taking a calcium supplement, probably Citrical, that contains both calcium citrate and vitamin D that helps the body absorb the calcium.

This plan is of course subject to change based on how things go, but it feels good to have a plan. I feel like my life has been on pause for the last 6 weeks. I'm ready to push play and see what's next. I just need to be careful so I don't have to push rewind.

Four easy miles with Larry and Wayne again. I wore my new Serola Sacroiliac Belt for the first time. It felt very comfortable. I like the feel of stability in the pelvis. Only time will tell whether it will help my sacral stress fracture heal any faster.

Wayne and Kevin were planning to run at the mouth of the canyon at 5am this morning. I was tired from a day full of family stuff related to my nephew's wedding, and I knew I wasn't going as far or as fast as Wayne and Kevin so I didn't commit to be there. I woke up a little after 5am and decided to go run a few miles and see if I bumped into them near the end of their run. I was only planning on about 4 miles. I averaged about 10:30 pace for the first two miles. I was intentionally taking it easy, but it felt pretty good. I decide to go up to a 1/2 mile farther to see if I bumped into the guys. It was still pretty dark but I saw a single silhouette running towards me just a short time later. It was Wayne. Kevin never showed. I was happy to run back in with Wayne. We ran about 8:10 pace the last 3/4 mile from the fountain, and were both satisfied with that.

Forgetting to register in time for both the Runner Series and for Hobble Creek this year ended up saving me some money this year. I got into St. George anyway, and I wasn't ready to run a half marathon today at Hobble Creek. It sounds like with the late start and hot weather it wasn't much fun anyway.

My plan is to run easy miles on Tue, Thu, and Sat again next week and see how I feel. I've pretty much decided to go ahead and run in the Red Rock Relay unless I feel some major pain between now and then.  

Easy miles with Larry and Wayne.

Easy miles solo. I'm slowing getting back into running. Average pace was about 9:30/mi for 4 miles...and I was pleased.

I agreed to go on a hike with the YW today. The 4th year girls scheduled a hike up Mt. Timpanogos. As of the morning of the day before, 3 girls were going. One dropped out the night before, and one didn't get up this morning. That left just my daughter Emily and 3 adults...Larry & Jolene Marshall and me. We figured Emily wouldn't want to go as the only girl, but she surprised us by saying she kind of still wanted to go. This was true, but after the hike I asked her about it again and she said another reason was that she knew we adults had prepared a lot and wanted to go. She's awesome...and so was the hike.

We didn't run up, as we've done in the past, but we didn't dawdle on the way up either. It took us about 4:30 up. It took us 4:10 down because we did dawdle some. I ended up taking 163 photos on the hike, and Emily took quite a few, too. I was repeatedly in awe of the beauty of the mountains, the greenery, and especially the abundant and brilliantly colorful wildflowers in their many varieties. I've heard multiple sources say this was maybe the best year in many years to hike Timp. I must agree. And the weather was nearly perfect as well, cool on the way up, no wind and the top, didn't really start to feel hot until we were nearly back down.

I was so proud of Emily. She proved her toughness once again. She's not an experienced hiker, and has not done much this summer to stay in good shape, but she out-hiked me. Her calves were burning as she climbed the steep rocky path to the summit, but she paused only briefly a few times and just kept going. On the way back down, especially in the last few miles, she would break into a run for a stretch. It was hard for me to keep up. I believe she is a natural runner if she ever feels inclined to give it a go.

Because of my stress fracture recovery, I had pretty much resolved myself to not running the St. George marathon this year even though I'm registered, but recently I've reconsidered. This would be year #9 on my way to the 10 year club. I decided to do this hike and also go ahead and run the Red Rock Relay and see how I feel. There's no way I'll be in top marathon shape, but Larry (recovering from heart surgery) is planning just to try to finish between 5:30 and 6:00 this year. Maybe I can just take it at a slow pace with him. Today's hike was the first phase of the test. I ran about a mile from the car to the trail head, and another mile back after the hike, and the hike itself was about 15 miles. After 9+ hours on my feet climbing and descending about 4,500 feet over 17 miles, I really felt pretty good at the end. My sacroiliac belt felt secure and comfortable. My muscles and joints held up well. This is encouraging.

Whether or not I run the St. George marathon is not really very important. There is no way it will compare to the blessing I had today going on this incredible hike with Emily and my friends Larry and Jolene. It was truly a tender mercy from God for which I am deeply grateful. 

Lindon loop with Wayne, Larry and Jolene this morning. 

After finishing the Timp hike on Saturday feeling pretty good, I decided to try a couple of fartlek stretches this morning to see how it feels. Twice Wayne and I went for about 2/3 mile at a faster (than very slow) pace. The first time there was a gradual downhill and we averaged 7:50/mi. The second time was a level stretch near the end of the run at 8:10/mi. I can't hold those paces for 26.2 miles, but they felt pretty good today.

It's going to be tricky building back up my running. I think I'll keep with the every other day for a while and start going a little longer on the days I run, throwing in some faster fartlek stretches when I feel good.