Ow.

I hurt. I do. As much as I don't want to admit it, there is no denying it.

And this after I felt really good after my long run. And I DID feel good. All over my body. Except in my hip. Where it was an annoying pain.

So, I got back to Denver and went to see my chiro/pt guy (right away) who has been treating me for random sports stuff. Mostly preventative till this point.

And I get... acupuncture. Ahhhh! It was nice. And the next day in the pool. Nothing. No pain. Following day on the bike. Painfree. Sweet!

Thursday comes a run. As soon we start jogging, OW! We were supposed to do a few tempo miles at the end. Didn't happen. Too much going on in that hip. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Limping now.

Back to Dr. More acupuncture, followed by ultrasound, followed by call to coach, followed by directions to roll and ice it, followed by a weekend of doing that, followed by a massage.

Sunday and Monday = runs. Run = dull pain (but still pain). And Monday comes more acupuncture.

OK, so we are making progress. Or are we? Even if I heal this pain, am I treating the problem or the symptom?

So, I try something new: Muscle Restoration. Huh? Yeah, here's more info. Kinda interesting. I learned a lot from my session.

He did a lot of muscle analysis, laser activation and gave me exercises to do at home. So now I am rolling out my BACK to fix my HIP. Seems weird. But is actually kinda working. I stretch and my hip hurts. So I roll my back, do the stretch again, hip pain decreased (or gone). Hm. Cool. But the hip pain comes back, I need to roll it, the cycle continues. After a lot of rolling, my body will learn/back will be loose and pain will be gone (or so I am told). Now I am treating the problem and I am happy.

But not quite happy enough. Why not? Because I want to run painfree and I want to DO IT NOW! I have had a long run (40+ miles) on my schedule for a long time. One I have really been looking forward to, actually. And it looks like I might have to skip it. Or shorten it.

My coach and athlete friends all think I am ready for my 50-miler and can do the race without the long run this weekend, so that eases my mind, but it is disappointing to NOT be able to do something you are looking forward to.

Further, Ross has a 32-mile run on his schedule tomorrow. I know he'd love to skip it. He's totally healthy and he will do fine, but he'd love an excuse NOT to run it, where as I am looking for every solution TO run mine. Agh! Not fair.

BUT, the goal is the 50-miler and if I need to skip/shorten my run to keep my body healthy to do my race, I will. I might not be the happiest about it, but I will.