My Current Predicament

I was so excited back in early April for the weather to improve so I could get outside on the roads and enjoy a good long run. Well, the weather has been great (except for right now--raining buckets), and my bedside shelf has been piled up with books about running for several weeks. You'd think I'd be outside and training for my next race or at least taking Norah out in the jog stroller every few days.

Unfortunately, I have had to give up running for the past few weeks. The stiff, "zombie-like" state that I found myself in after the race I ran on May 1st turned out to be a pulled hip flexor. Do you know how much you use a hip flexor? I didn't, until doing all these normal things like getting out of a car and going up or down stairs didn't work like they used to.

I saw my doctor and explained (embarrassingly) how I hurt my hip in the fun run (It was only 3.5 miles--come on! I wasn't marathoning or anything!). He prescribed 3 times the amount of ibuprofen I was taking, along with rest and an icing regimen. I resigned myself to a few weeks of rest, and a lot of medicine, as long as it would mend my hip.

Last week I was finally able to go outside and run! Phew, it felt great, even though I limited myself to a 1/2 mile walking before and after my slow mile of jogging. I was itching to do more, but I didn't want to pull something again.

Which brings us to last Friday. I had run three times that week, just the short jogs. I bought a new swim suit and went to the pool (for the first time in forever) on campus and swam laps. All activity checked out, and I was only needing meds once a day, if any. Then what happened?

I think Toby broke my toe. It wasn't on purpose, but it hurt like crazy. I was wearing sandals and he wasn't paying attention to where we were walking and he basically jumped on my little toe. My whole upper foot at the base of my toes is black and blue (still), and I've been icing it and popping tons of ibuprofen for the past week. Swimming still seems to be fine (which is fantastic and really relaxing), but even normal activity sends me to a chair with a pack of ice by the end of the day. Ugh!

Now I sit and wait for a healed toe, after sitting and waiting for a healed hip. Not the great summer season of running I was hoping for!