weekly rundown

Luckily my IT band has not been stricken with the same disability as my partner's, so I've been able to run. This week I ran 4 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles on Thursday. Next week starts my Hal Higdon's training program so the miles will begin to increase.

let's get physical!

Okay, I was *this close* to actually using the eliptical trainer yesterday. I created a special playlist on my iPod and everything (called "eliptical mix" if you must know). Then Fred forgot his iPod, I got to the gym a little early, and the stars aligned for me to take a step aerobics class instead! I'm not sure what my favorite part of class was - the dance remix of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" or the old man next to me giving me a crusty look every time I turned the wrong way during the "step hesitate baby mambo kick" sequence. What I love about running is that it requires absolutely no rhythm and practically no coordination. Try getting away with this in step aerobics and you'll end up looking a lot like grape stomping lady.

Dear left hip, please feel better soon so I can stop humiliating myself in cardio classes and generally feeling like a noob. kthxbai!

keeping calm and carrying on...

I figure if I can't run, I might as well read about running. I'm super excited about these three books I just ordered from Amazon:

Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon

Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham

The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What 35 Years of Running Has Taught Me About Winning, Losing, Happiness, Humility, and the Human Heart by Amby Burfoot

Hopefully these will help keep me focused and inspired enough to stave off the frustration of being sidelined by my hip. I think I'm getting better but it's hard to say for sure. Other than having to drop trou for a weird therepuetic hip ultrasound, PT has been going well. Since I'm doing mostly stretching and strengthening it's kind of like having my own team of personal trainers. Whether or not my hip gets better I'm going to end up with some super-toned hammies!

Extracurricular Activities

Since this blog is about our marathon prep and all that it entails, I'm including this rather Sienfeld esque situation that happened to me last night. Now I need to preface this by saying that I'm not the most social person when I'm in the men's locker room, it's a place to shower, steam, change, etc. Not a place for airing your coed steam room orgy exploits while sitting across from me spread eagle, buck naked!

Now I'm comfortable in my own skin, but when I'm in the locker room I use a towel when in the steam room. So I'm the only one in the steam room, mindin' my own business when this guy walks in all naked. It wasn't the fact that he was naked that bothered me, it was the fact that he proceeded to sit directly across from me spread eagle and state, "Yea, I just always come into these things naked." I was thinking to myself, "good for you dude, you don't need to tell me about it." He then goes on to state, "Yea, I was in this co-ed steam room at the Sheraton in Lansing but I didn't know it was co-ed. Seeing that I do the steam room naked, I was naturally naked when about three women and two other guys walk in with bathing suits on. After a while everyone was naked and you wouldn't believe the EXTRACURRICULARS that went on in there, it was a sight to behold!!" No shit, this is what this guy is telling me while naked in the steam room. He then asks me, "so, do you have any crazy/exciting stories to share?" That's when I had to get up and leave. Gotta love the locker room!!!

Getting started...or, not.

I'm not supposed to be running. I've been sneaking in a few miles here and there just to see if my hip is getting any better, but so far, it isn't. The problem is my iliotibial band, which stretches from the hip to knee. Apparently my itb is super tight, which is causing inflammation (i.e. pain!!) of the bursa sac between my itb and hip bone. Cool, huh? I'm sure I can thank all that hill running this summer for exacerbating the condition. The docs think it might also have something to do with my leg length discrepancy...yeah, I'm a 1/4 inch shorter in the left leg (wtf??).

At any rate, I've got a month of physical therapy ahead of me, at which point I'll meet with Dr. Housner again to determine whether a cortisone shot is necessary to reduce the inflammation. I hope not, but at the same time I just want to be able to run again...without limping and without my physical therapist chewing me out.