Your friendly update

In the last blog entry that I wrote, things were kind of left hanging, and a few of my running friends who I don't see often have mentioned that to me.  So, before writing my traditional New Year's blog, I figured I ought to update on how things are. 

I saw Dr. Tom Ellis, hip doctor extraordinaire, on 11/13.  I could tell immediately why his waiting list is a few months long.  This guy knows his stuff, and his bedside manner is pretty amazing.  He showed me my MRI films, explained exactly what was going on with my hip, and in general was just a cool guy.  All doctors should be like this!  He agreed with my hypothesis, that the fracture in my hip likely occurred long before the November MRI showed it, and said that as long as it didn't hurt, I was allowed to run.  He recommended an MRI in a month to make sure the fracture had healed.  Originally I thought I'd wait until that MRI before running again.  Well, no surprise, I lasted all of two weeks before deciding to start back up LOL.

First run back, with my BFF Tamara.  We were both so happy!!!

After about a month of being back at it, I am up to being able to run 5 miles (with a couple short walk breaks thrown in), or 3 miles without any walking.  My pace is fairly close to what I was able to run at prior to my injury (9:20-9:40).  However, I still feel very much out of shape.  My legs get tired easily, and mentally I want to tap out after a mile or two.  Also, after most runs, my hip/glute area is sore.  Thankfully, it doesn't hurt while I'm actually running, and ice and stretching after my runs help a great deal.  I'm also seeing Dr. Young (my Airrosti/voodoo medicine doctor) weekly right now.  Whatever she's doing, it's helping tremendously, so I plan on keeping up with those appointments.  

As for that repeat MRI to check for healing... apparently Dr. Ellis's office isn't quite as adept as Ohio Health at getting my MRI's approved and scheduled.  Still waiting on insurance approval and a date.  What I expect for them to see: the labral tear, possibly inflammation, and that's about it.  Will I be shocked if the fracture is still there?  No, because at this point, nothing really shocks me when it comes to my body.  

Other things going on:  my foot numbness is at an all-time high.  I am so confused by it!  There are runs when I literally cannot feel anything in EITHER foot by mile 3.  Those are the worst ones.  The only way to make it go away is to stop and stand still; walking doesn't work.  A good run is when the numbness is only in one foot, and only affects the toes and top of that foot.  I tried out some new shoes (Hoka Clifton), but they weren't the magical cure.  The custom-made inserts from the podiatrist don't help either.  So it's back to the drawing board.  I am going to contact my podiatrist to see what she thinks would be the next step.  I've been reading about getting steroid injections for neuropathy (the clinical name for what's going on), and I'm totally willing to go this route if she's willing to try.   I know that I can't train for a race until the problem is taken care of, because at this point, 100% of my runs result in the numbness, and I don't want to be forced to stop during a race.  I mean, usually I can run through the numbness, but sometimes it's so bad that I can't.

One last update: I did compete in a Master's swim meet on 12/1 in Dayton.  What a fun day!  I am not in quite as good of shape as I was a couple of years ago when I trained and raced in two Master's meets in the spring, but my times were within a second in the 50's, so that's not horrible :)  I ended up winning the sprint pentathlon division (50 of each stroke + 100 IM) by winning all 5 races.  My trophy was a super-cute bobblehead swimmer!  

The best part of the day was spending it with Amy S. (a super amazing former club swimmer from Central OH) and Amber (who raced in her first-ever meet--SO COOL!).  We carpooled together, hung out together, etc.  I hope to do another meet in the spring! 

Post-meet: Happy Swimmers!!!

I haven't been in the water much at all over the past 3 weeks... okay, I've been in ONCE.  Just haven't felt drawn to it.  But I do plan on changing that, as I have the Lifetime Indoor Triathlon in less than 4 weeks!