Training Session #8 - What a disapointment!

Okay - I finally admit it. I am injured. Not in the stress fracture or strained muscle kind of injured. I think the tight muscles in my left hip have some how caused a pinched a nerve. I've been struggling putting any kind of major weight on my left leg due to the pain in my left hip/lower back region, and while it's gotten better at times, I have noticed a significant decrease in my performance while running. I thought it was a part of the muscle pain I was experiencing in the rest of my hips, but that's gotten a lot better, even through the additional running. Nope - this is a nerve problem.

I showed up at the Ansley Mall location for Phiddipides for their 6 mile run this morning. Now, I have yet to run a full 6 miles, but I've come close. I think without the hip problem I would have done fine. Although I started out a little fast since we had a large group of people running, I ended up experiencing such sharp pain with every step my left leg took that I had to take a break at each mile. Once I came to the water stop at mile 3, I knew I was done for. The pain was bad, but the disappointment was worse. That hurt more than anything. I've never had to stop and turn back until today. I took a short cut back to the store which shaved about 2 miles from the rest of the run. I thought I could run the way back, but I took 5 steps and had to stop.

This Friday I have the day off from work, so I will have to make a trip to Rex's chiropractor (I guess he's mine now too). I will probably have to skip the dry run of the Peachtree course next Saturday too. Hindsite might tell me that I should have seen this coming, but how? The rest of the hip pain went away with time. I figured this was a muscle issue that needed a little more time than usual. I think I'll be okay to run the big race, but I felt like I had given up this morning. I couldn't let Red or our friend Todd keep waiting for me. They really needed to keep going, but they were kind enough never to say anything.

I think I've finally experienced what most runners do at some point in their lives. When they can't run, they get depressed. Hopefully Friday's visit will begin the healing process that I so desperately need.