I did not run the race

That was a disappointment. However, I did raise close to $2,000 dollars and that contributed to the greater Team in Training total of $370,000 raised for this year's Bayshore Marathon. I was able to see a great friend of mine participate. I enjoyed cheering her on and seeing her complete her first marathon. Go Jenny!!!

The diagnosis on my hip is tendinitis. It's basically a repetitive use injury from over training. Now, I am attending physical therapy (PT). Two days a week I go through an aggressive weights program with an instructor. The other days I am expected to keep up with a stretching and strengthening regimen they have laid out for me. The man who gave me the evaluation believes part of my problem was due to not having strong enough hips to buffer me against the weight-bearing forces of running.

I am hopeful though. After all the waiting and wondering, I now have a diagnosis. I have a plan to get back to being strong. Best of all, the evaluator believes it's completely realistic for me to run the half marathon at this year's Detroit Free Press marathon.

Watch out world!

No stress fracture...but what now?

I do not have a stress fracture. The MRI confirmed that. So, good news!!
She wants to schedule me for a bone density scan of my femur but I can't get in until May 24th, which is 3 days before the Bayshore Marathon. I'll keep the appointment but I don't know what that means until then. My doctor left me a voice mail with all of this information. She said that in the meantime I could proceed with activity using pain as my guide. That's really pretty vague of a suggestion. Although I do feel better about walking. I was starting to think that each step was gonna cause more of problem. I still am terribly weary about running. This dull ache in my hip has not subsided. I think I'll plan to get in some good long walks this weekend and then go from there.
I still meet with her on Monday so I'll bring my long list of questions and hopefully obtain some better, specific suggestions on how to proceed.

rock on.

The frustration of waiting

Bear with me. As I write this post I am feeling slightly dejected. This is a result of what I found out during my appointment yesterday afternoon with the U of M Sports Medicine clinic. The doc asked me the usual litany of questions, manipulated my knee into odd angles, pressed on my hip bones and set me up for about 5 X-rays. She suspects a stress fracture possibly in the hip bones (since that's where the pain initially began) or maybe in my right femur. Apparently X-rays don't usually show this sort of thing and mine did not. Then I went in this morning for an MRI of my hip area. I will know the results of that when I meet again with the doctor next Monday afternoon.

As you may have guessed she advised me not to run. She thinks that I could feel I am getting better but if it really is a stress fracture and I do run, I could set myself up for some serious pain and a possible hip replacement. No thank you!

I am frustrated, annoyed, upset, depressed and flustered. I know it is not THAT bad. I know I have two legs. I am not paralyzed. People have setbacks. I am aware of ALL of this. However, it's incredibly frustrating to think I might not be able to run that race. I have put a lot of effort into training and fund raising. I've given up a lot of time. I've even enjoyed it. I loved thinking of myself and someone who can run 25 miles a week.

Now what? I become a couch potato like everyone else? I have no idea how people can sit on their butt at work all day and then go home and sit in front of the tv. I'm so restless.

So, I am trying not to envision the most bleak scenario just yet. Next week Monday I will know more of where I am going from here.