Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Fall Break Vacation

We don't usually take a fall break vacation but decided to this year to celebrate a dear friend's 40th birthday. For me this meant relaxation from everything... home, work, KIDS! And while I had every intention of working out daily while on vacation that just did not happen.

We left last Tuesday afternoon to travel to Orlando, FL where we would spend all day Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. So, if you count the 11-13 miles we walked around that park between 1:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. I guess I did work out that day. And it was a LOT of fun doing all the things we had set out to do, like seeing our favorite princess, Ariel.


The next day we headed to Port Canaveral to board a ship headed to Nassau, Bahamas! The goal aboard the ship was to workout both mornings when we had time. I made it out the door one day for 35 minutes on the elliptical and about 15 minutes of weights. And to my surprise when I walked out our cabin door my friend and I were dressed alike. Great minds!!!



We had an amazing time with our friends celebrating! We swam with stingrays, hung out on a private beach, went to a comedy club on the ship, lounged by the pool, ate and drank a lot and had great conversations. Despite the lack of working out and all the food/drink over the course of the 4 days I came back only up 3 pounds on the scale from what I was when we left. I can deal with that.

Now I am back to work and trying hard to get in the last few workouts and runs that I can before my surgery next week!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Life Now

When I restarted (for the millionth and 7 time) my blog last week I initially was going to play catch up with race reports, weight loss (or gain or both) and general ramblings of what's been going on, but I guess instead I'm going to start with the now.  I'll still touch briefly on the in between (Columbus and now) so the now part makes total sense.

3 years ago (March 2012) I ran my first marathon. Shortly after I took a brief hiatus and got very acquainted with physical therapy due to a hip labral tear and some impingement. Hiatus over, great racing season, PR.
Hip flared back up and the cycle repeated itself for most of 2014.

March 2015 was suppose to be my goal (SUB 2 hour) half marathon at Shamrock. Set back, the goal became to finish, which I DID within minutes of my PR (I should've pushed hard despite the pain, I shouldn't have stopped to pee since I really didn't need to). Anyway, another set back once that was over with months in PT, AlterG (anti-gravity treadmill) running, no speed work, more PT, no racing... you get the cycle.

And now.

August 17, 2015 was my last visit with my PT and the day I was advised to see my orthopedic doctor again. So, I went to see Dr. M on August 24. It was decided based on my history 3 years ago and my most recent (this year) x-rays to move forward with scheduling arthroscopic surgery on my hip since I had done PT, had a cortisone shot and nothing was working to really relieve my pain besides complete rest (NOT an option!!). We scheduled it for late in October (22nd) because we are going on a cruise to the Bahamas at the early part of the month and with the recovery time just did not feel it was best to schedule before. NO need to be hobbling around a cruise ship or the Bahamas on crutches.

So a timeline (more for me):

April 2012 - injured
May 2012-  began PT
Between July 2012 and July 2015 - lots of PT, PR races and easy running.
August 2015 - Visit w/ Dr. M to schedule surgery

What exactly IS my condition? 
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) -
a condition where the bones of the hip are abnormally shaped. Because they do not fit together perfectly, the hip bones rub against each other and cause damage to the joint. The hip is a ball-and-socket joint.

Labral tear -  A hip labral tear involves the ring of cartilage, called the labrum, that follows the outside rim of the socket of your hip joint. The labrum acts like a rubber seal or gasket to help hold the ball at the top of your thighbone securely within your hip socket.

Basically Dr. M will go in arthroscopically and shave the defunct bone, clean up the labrum. 


I am trying really hard in the time I have free between now and surgery to workout as much as possible and not think about the procedure itself. I know in the long run I need to do this to get back to running (and maybe a PR or two). I plan to document the process here to help cope with the whole not running/working out thing.

That is... life now. Well, life as far as running and my complete lack of blogging about it.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

When almost a year goes by....

Wow. So, I logged onto my blog because I mentioned to a friend that I blogged once...

Has it really been almost a year since I've been here? Duh. I know that answer to that.

Now is the perfect time to change that.
I never wrote my recap for what happened in October 2014 at the Columbus Half Marathon. It was an epic weekend for the most part. I traveled with great friends, met another friend there, worked the Expo booth for the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon, ate some great food and PR'd my race. Crazy how almost a year later I can remember that.

The race was a charity for the Children's Hospital in Columbus. A very touching race. Each mile was lined with survivors, their parents, and supporters. The atmosphere was amazing. I would go back in a heartbeat.
Mile 11.. (or it could've been 12), I remember a slight hill that ate me up and spit me out. But I remember most that it was lined with white... in remembrance of those children who lost their lives. Touching as a mom. I fought hard to fight back tears of pain (my darn body) and for those aching hearts.

I started out slower than my goal pace. I settled into what would've been an easy pace. When my husband passed me I knew I wouldn't hit the goal of sub 2, so I coasted in. 2:02 and change.
It was a PR and with that I was happy... hey I rang that PR gong!!!

Other memories -
My dearest friend got her BQ!!!
My hubby ran a super fast half, PR and sub 2! PR gong for him as well.
The medals were not available at the finish but there was a great redemption by the team to get them to us. And it was worth the 15 minute wait.







And that, my friends, is a race recap almost a year later as well as a blogging comeback!