I got cleared from the PT last Monday - which was really exciting!  Instead of running on the alter-G treadmill that day, my PT put me on the real treadmill, which left me grinning from ear to ear :)  I walked 5 mins to warm up, run 30 seconds and walk 4.5 mins for a total of 35 minutes.  It wasn't as boring as it normally would be, since I was so excited to be running again!!

I planned to run a couple slow miles on Thursday with the group and then 4 for my 'long' run on Saturday with the group as well.  I got to the Thursday run and knocked out 3 SLOW miles, but they felt like crap.  My butt was tight the entire time, not painful, but tight and sore. 

Then Friday was a sore day.  Not quite limping like the original injury, but sore.  So I punked out on the Saturday morning 'long' run until the soreness subsides.  The last thing I want to do is go back out there too quickly and re-injure it.  I'm a little up in the air about the GR full in October, but there's still currently 16 weeks until the race, so I've got time.  (or at least I'm going to keep telling myself that)

So, what have I been doing for three weeks with essentially no running?  Lots of crap around the house.  And lots of sleeping :)

I painted out upstairs spare bathroom - well, my husband's bathroom.  I primarily use the one in our bedroom and he gets bounced to this one.  After I finished it, I still have a bit of jealousy since his looks way better than mine now.  

When we bought the house, this bathroom was so bright, the color was very 'coral'.  Bright pink and obnoxious, so it had to be painted right away.  I can't even find a picture of it originally; it is entirely possible that I never took one.  Here it is with 2 layers of primer before I bought a roller or decided on a new color.

Pat chose a green color and we painted it right away.  The problem is that the green was very bright, very 'shamrock shake' from McDonald's.  After four years of that, and never completing any other decorating in the room, I decided to change it up again.

The new bathroom is now our 'Sayulita' bathroom.  Sayulita is a little city on the west side of Mexico, where we went on our honeymoon.  We brought back a few cute ceramic critters and wanted to display them somewhere and this turned out to be the perfect place!

We took some of my favorite pictures from our honeymoon and blew them up to 8x10s.  I looked all over for frames to fit the theme, but I couldn't find anything.  So I bought plain white frames and bought acrylic paint that matched the ceramic lizard, pajaro, turtle and frog.  I'm so happy with the way they came out!

I'm still looking for the perfect shower curtain and window curtain, but that will come with time. 

Now all I have to do is try to have my husband keep it clean :)

Still not running...

Yeah, that's right.  I haven't run since the 2 miles I put on the Alter G treadmill last week.  Yuck.  I go back to PT Monday afternoon and will get the good word then as to if I can run outside yet.  The good news is that I haven't had any pain in my hip or butt for over a week.

I've just been resting and relaxing since I got injured - which I've never done!!  In the almost 3 years I've been running, I've never taken more than 3 days off, so this feels weird.

I've found all sorts of crazy things to do in my extra time: sort through and organize our bookshelves, clean the kitchen cupboards, bake a batch of sugar cookies every night, clean out the garage, paint and re-decorate the bathroom... you know, all very important things!!  Good thing I work at a school where everyone eats the cookies so I haven't gained a bunch of weight yet.

I'm hoping for outdoor running clearance on Monday.  I'd really like to get back outside next Saturday with the group; I miss them all!

Alter G Treadmill Running

So just one week after my hip/butt muscle pull thingy while on a run, I was up and running again on an Alter G Treadmill at PT.  My PT is very confident that I'll heal just fine and soon, too!  I'm happy to report that I haven't had any actual pain since Wednesday and have only been in slight discomfort a bit since then.

Friday morning I rocked out 3 hours at PT!  Heat, stretching, 40 mins of elliptical (BOOOORING!), 20 mins of some leg lift/recumbant bike thing, more stretching, ice and then 30 mins on the Alter G.  It was so cool and so weird at the same time!

Pic borrowed from this informative Website

Imagine getting into a pair of spandex shorts over your own, with an inflatable water ring around your waist.  Then step into a vinyl/nylon enclosure on top of a treadmill and zip said spandex to the enclosure.  That's weird in and of itself but then the machine inflates and it gets even weirder.  Air all over from the bottom of the treadmill up to my butt.

The weird thing is that the shorts pull away from your waist, so it 'pushes'/connects to you around the mid of your butt cheeks.  Weirdest feeling of my life.  So running with only feeling 50 % of your body weight is so COOL and WEIRD!!  It felt great, pain-wise on my body, but was the weirdest feeling ever, like I was drunk!  Clearly, I'm not that great at describing the feeling.

So good news I got running again, but it was so weird.  Hopefully I'll be back to 100% soon.  I LOVE the guys at the Running Institute - they clearly know what they're doing and will stop at nothing to get you back out there.  Just Friday, there were TWO olympic trial contestants and then an old man having trouble keeping his balance - LOVE the variety of people in there.   


So to fill my running-less weekend, I found an awesome cake shop with lots of fun cookie cutters and I went to town this morning with sugar cookies.

For my husband's next poker night and so annoyed I can't rotate the pic properly

I originally purchased these to make for my dad for Father's Day (which I still will), but I made them today to thanks the Buildings & Grounds crew at school for being so awesome all year.  

 And here's a little something for our running group since I finally found number cookie cutters!

Hopefully I'll be out on the actual road in a couple weeks, but until then, I'll be rocking out all weird-like on the Alter G!

Much Better - FantASStic in fact :)

Today, I've had no pain in my butt!  Hooray :)  My right hip and glute are still tight and a bit sore, but I haven't had any movements that dropped me to my knees since early Wednesday.  Talk about progress!!

My insurance covers PT - which also includes running on the alter-gravity treadmill - so I'm heading in first thing in the morning.  And if I come out like a sweaty mess, I've made plans to head to my friend's house to shower before work.  Good thing she works from home, near my office :)

Thanks for your tips and tricks and all your support.  It's amazing that I feel like I 'know' all of you and we're real friends!  Thanks for that; it's really helped me stay positive throughout this really annoying week.  It is weird how much time I seem to have now that I'm not running.  Not that I've done anything productive, just read more blogs and wasted many hours on pinterest!

Update on my butt

It still hurts.  

I got into the Running Institute/Michigan Rehabilitation Specialists Tuesday morning and met with the best PT they have.  He thinks I have an SI joint (sacroiliac) injury.  It's my right hip/glute that is tight and painful.  However, as he did all the stretches and tests, it all hurt WAY more when he manipulated my left leg.  I jumped off the table a couple of times it hurt so bad.

After some preliminary tests, he put a huge heating pad on my butt for 20 minutes and then had me loosen up on the elliptical for 25 minutes.  Now, good thing I stopped in on Monday after my MD appt to set up my first appt here.  I saw everyone in work out gear, so thought I better wear that too.  Had I just called, I would have showed up in my work clothes, ie a summer dress, and looked like an idiot.  

So I packed my work clothes and got all sweaty on the elliptical.  Man that thing was so boring for 25 mins!  There is nothing to look at except the receptionists not doing any work and complaining over and over about how slow it was that morning.  25 brutal minutes later, I was done.

I foam rolled (kinda dumbly, I'm not good with that thing yet) and then had the PT stretch me out a bunch more.  Two hours after I walked in the door, I was sweaty and on my way to work.  The good news is that my PT thinks this is totally fixable, in fact he wants me running on the alter-gravity treadmill right away.  He thinks I'll be just fine, which is promising.

I'll be seeing him three times a week for awhile and my biggest issue is how I'm going to go to work afterward and not stink all day.  They don't have showers at PT (I asked) and we don't have any at school, either.  I can't go sweat my butt off in the morning and then change into a summer dress and rock a sweaty pony tail all day.  And they're closed by the time I get out of work in the evening. 

The good news is this is what I'm most concerned about, not the injury itself.  I've been running almost 3 years and this is the first injury I've had.  Not too bad.  I consider myself lucky so far.  Since it's muscular I figure it's gotta be fixable, or at least more fixable than a broken bone.

Here's my hubby and me hammin' in up for a pic at last night's Tiger game :)  We didn't win, but that super rope around my next was DEEE-licious!

I'll live.  And I'm not too crabby yet :)  First step: get muscle pain in my butt to go away when I walk.  That's a priority.  In the meantime, I'm keeping my head up and not getting too crabby.

DX: Gluteal Tendinitis

I didn't run the DX AA half yesterday :(  I got up, did my pre-race routine, met the girls at 7am to hit the shuttle to the start line as if I was going to run.  After parking, I tried to jog around the block and didn't make it 10 feet.  PAIN.  and a LOT of it.  my right leg just couldn't move forward.

So I walked the block and returned to my car to ditch the singlet and bib and put on a cotton shirt.  Cotton on race day.  ewww.  I ended up walking 5+ miles and cheering on the runners with our other team members.  It was fun and a lot less depressing than staying at home sulking over my injury.

I got into the MD this morning and he diagnosed me with gluteal tendonitis.  For the record, he didn't seem to know what he was doing and admitted he doesn't know much about athletes and their injuries, so he sent me over to the Running Institute to be evaluated.  (I would have gone right there but I have an HMO and needed the referral).

I have an early morning appt there tomorrow and I can't wait.  I already know one of the owners really well and feel very confident in their skill sets, so I'm looking forward to it.  I was in more pain today than yesterday, walking is becoming annoying.  I have a limp cause it hurts to lift my right leg each time.  Getting up out of a chair, or out of my car is the worst so far. 

So I'll be in touch :)  Hopefully some stretching and manipulating by the experts at the Running Institute will help me get back on the road.  Or at least have some relief to not be miserable limping to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

This morning's DX AA plans

Here we are... 545am and will be leaving for the Dexter-Ann Arbor half marathon soon.  I'm still not sure if I'll be running it this morning.  Either way, I'll be there.  I'm going in my running clothes with back ups (sweats and pb&j) in the car.  I've foam rolled, stretched, iced, relaxed and might be able to run. 

I'll meet the ladies as planned (in Ann Arbor), carpool to the starting line (in Dexter) and after jogging around a bit, see how I feel.  If I have no pain in my right hip/glute, I'll run the half conservatively for fun.  If I do have pain in that first mile or so of jogging before the race, I'll head back with one of the girls from the group and volunteer at the 501 water station at mile 11. 

Either way, I'll be there for this awesome event I still haven't run yet.  If I can't run it comfortably, I'll stay and support my friends.  I've tried to sway my mind that I won't be disappointed if I don't run this race this year since:

1) it's not the end of the world, there are ALWAYS other races
2) I PR'd THREE half marathons in 2012 already.  All within 7 weeks of each other
3) There will be other DX AA races I can do
4) this isn't my "A" race and I haven't had my heart set on it for real for real (like my first full)
5) how dumb would I be if I ran and injured myself worse

So, here I go... I'll let you know what happens :)

DNS (did not start) > DNF (did not finish).... if you're making the smart choice, not a lazy one in my opinion

Yikes! My First Running Injury

It's true... after two and a half years of running I've come across my first injury and it sucks!!  It's my right hip and it hurts.  a lot.  well, more than it should at least.

I've kept it a secret and ignored it since March-ish and hoped it would go away.  During my March and April half marathons, it would kinda hurt/twinge a little in the last three miles or so, but never after the run, so I thought no big deal.

I've cut back my mileage in the month of May and hoped it would go away completely, but I was wrong.  I ran 5.5 not-too-hilly miles last night with the girls and by mile 3 I felt it back in my hip.  I can't explain it too well: right hip soreness, kinda painful in my upper right butt cheek, going around my hip to the front and it feels muscular.

I know, easy to make a diagnosis, right?  The good news is that it feels muscular or tendon-like, not bone pain/fracture style.  But last night after the run and even after stretching it out, it was sore as can be.  It was even painful as I slept, waking me up a few times.  I got up and came downstairs to get an ice pack around 3am and it felt a bit better in the morning.

Today was a bit sore, but not horrible.  Certainly not normal feeling, with a slight limp half of the day.  So I have an appt with a sports massage therapist in the morning and I'll see how I feel after that.  I'm supposed to run the Dexter Ann Arbor Half Marathon on Sunday. 

If it is still sore tomorrow, I may have to have my first DNS :(  This sucks, I want to run this race so badly!!  Send healing, no big deal right hip pain thoughts my way :)