And then I got injured

My left hip started to hurt three days before the Columbus 10K.  I thought maybe it was because I was doing a track workout - quick stuff, lots of circles - the pain persisted and hurt with every step of that race.  After that race I was in a world of pain.  I could barely walk and the pain was very reminiscent of when I got the stress fracture two years ago.

I called the doctor the very next day.  I've got big plans and big goals this year and if I'm injured, let's get on with it.  The doctor, of course, thought it was another stress fracture.  Awesome.  I had some x-rays that showed nothing, was told no more running for a while (double awesome) and was scheduled for an MRI.

A few days later I had the MRI and a few days after that I was back in the doctor's office.  No stress fracture.  Say what?  I could go back to working out as long as it didn't hurt.  Honey, everything hurts but if it's not fractured, I'll keep working out in some way.  I did a lot of swimming and a lot of water jogging.  I tried one run.  I made it nine minutes and had to turn around and walk/limp home. 

I sent a message to the doctor.  She wanted to do more evaluations including another MRI, this time with contrast - an injection right into the hip joint.

Last week I had the arthrogram MRI done at the local hospital.  It was painful, it took forever, and I don't ever want to do it again.  I can't believe I've now had two of them for my hips!  I got the results the next day.  I have a labrum tear on the left side (both my hips are gonna fall apart!) and tendonitis where the hamstring connects to the sit bone.  I exchanged about one billion emails with the doctor - why is there pain in my outer hip and my groin when the tendonitis was in the hamstring/sit bone?  She wants to do physical therapy.  I want better answers.  She said I could workout as long as it didn't hurt.

I, of course, signed up for a race a few days later...

Columbus 10K 2017

Last year was the first time I ran the Columbus 10K.  It was super fast and super competitive, and I knew I wanted to add it to the schedule again this year.  Three days before the race I started to have a little niggle in my hip (more on that another day) and frankly, I just haven't been feeling in all that great of shape, so I didn't expect a whole lot from this race.

We got down there in good time, but there was still a line for the three port-a-johns already a block long.  I decided to take my warm up run to the other side of Columbus to where I knew there was a public bathroom.  It was hot and humid and I was feeling like this race was going to suck.  I barely got back in time to get in line for the start.

I decided I just wanted to go hard and not worry about my splits, so I put a sticker over my watch.  In hindsight, this was a bad idea as my first mile was the fastest of the day and although I thought I was holding back, I wasn't.  I was suffering right from the beginning.  I wasn't getting passed by many people but I was getting passed and I was falling further and further behind.  I was struggling to keep my head in the game.  Six miles felt like they took forever. 

I have no idea what my final time was, but it was a solid 1:20 slower than last year.  I have no excuses but it is frustrating that I feel less in shape than last year when I have bigger goals this year.

Regardless, I still placed in my age group.  Last year I was fifth with quite a respectable time and this year with a slower time I finished third and walked away with a camp mug. 

WORST.BLOGGER.EVER!!

Worst.Blogger.EVER!!!

I said I was going to be consistent last month and whatnot and I wrote one freakin' time?  Can I do better in July? 

Here's what's coming up.

• I got hurt
• I ran a race
• I got more hurt
• I had a whole bunch of MRIs and X-rays done
• I did another race
• I'm still hurt

Chew on that.  I'll be back tomorrow.