I RAN again and why it's a big deal

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Freedom is near!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

So I was going to do a product review today, but instead of a product, I am going to review my butt/hip. Exciting, I know ;) But first, let me explain.

I have been complaining about my hip/knee hurting since before the LA Marathon. It started on my 20 mile training run, and just kind of progressively got worse, with a highlight (lowlight?) being the 22 miler when I had super sharp, debilitating pain. Though the actual marathon wasn't too bad (because of the MAJOR Distraction of my GI system and the adrenaline), I haven't felt quite the same since. It's been over two weeks now, and it sometimes hurts to even walk.

I've mentioned before that I pinched a lumbar nerve back in Feb '09. The pain I am now feeling is the same kind of "pinched nerve" sensation that travels all the way down to my ankles and affects the way I can move my leg. When it's bad, I can't even bend my right leg because the knee and hip is in turmoil. For the last couple of miles of the marathon, I was doing a sort of "limp-trot-run" thing. No bueno.

Upon a careful inventory of my muscles, a closer look at how I walk, I noticed something. My left and right legs have different muscular placement.image source

See the Tensor Faciae Latae muscle near the top left? On my left leg, (the one without pain) the muscle comes all the way up to the hip and attaches to the hip, just like in the picture shown.

On my right leg (the one with pain), umm...... the muscle doesn't come to the hip. In fact, it kind of disappears and ends a couple of inches below the hip. WTF!!!! Even James confirmed he could feel the uneven muscle placement.

I'm no expert here, but having a couple inches of missing muscle just MIGHT be the key here. I am guessing that this causes my right hip to swing more since it is unstable. In fact, when I walk, my right hip swings considerably more than the left.

A quick trip to the Doc later, I have an appointment with a PT. Yay I guess.... I just don't know why my previous (and different) PT didn't catch this pretty glaring imbalance? He didn't even watch me run or walk now.... come to think of it.

At least now I have a sh!t ton of info I can give my PT so he can get me all fixed up!

Despite this, the weather was gorgeous yesterday, so I set out for my first run post-marathon. A whole 17 days after the marathon. The goal: 5 KM at whatever pace the body felt like.

The verdict? I missed running! (obviously) My legs and lungs were so fresh I ran at a much faster pace than anticipated. And it felt good! 5 KM at 8:30 pace. Not bad, not bad.
HOWEVER, I could feel the first twinges of nerve pain kicking in. Though three miles was not enough to aggravate my nerves, I could definitely feel some funky stuff going on. I'm usually OK until the 11-13 mile mark, and since I'm not running another marathon anytime soon, I should be OK. BUT, I want to get my leg fixed, because I want to be able to continue running for years to come.

And I HATE being worried. For the last 17 days, I have actually been afraid of running. Afraid that if I ran, it would hurt so badly again, and I would do some permanent damage. I know I'm just being paranoid, and I know I'm going to go see the PT, but I just had to get this all off my chest because I've been nervous up until now with no one to really share it with. So phew! Off my chest.

I think for now, I am going to stick to running shorter distances (13-15 miles MAX) and doing a sh!t ton of biking and swimming. Good thing I'm starting to fall in love with biking! In fact, I have a 30+ mile ride this weekend.... should be good!

Thanks for listening to my woe is me story.
I wish everyone the best of running this weekend, filled with sunshine and fresh legs!
Adios!