Well, to quote a saying that I only ever heard for the first time from my beloved mother-in-love who has passed and is in Heaven, “I got a hiccup in my giddy up”.
It was day 45 into my adventure, my long run on a beautiful Saturday morning. I’m still at the “interval training” portion of this adventure. That’s where I toggle between running and walking. Well, I was on a lovely trail that day, and just so you’re aware, as a 48 year-old woman, the first mile is like warming up an old car. (A beautiful, timeless car, but an old car none-the-less). There are issues in pretty much every joint in this older body, until everything gets loose. That’s when it happened. The sharpest pain I’ve felt coming from a part of my body that I never had issues with, my hip. My freaking hip!
Well, I’m a stubborn lady, so of course I kept going. Each running interval brought a new, agonizing layer of discomfort to my hip. But did I stop? No, of course not. At that point I convinced myself that I just needed to go a little further and whatever got tight, would simply loosen up. After all, that’s the usual remedy with every other muscle in my body, once I’m warmed up, the pain subsides, and I can focus on kind-of, sort-of, enjoying myself. This, was not subsiding. Every running interval felt worse than the one before. I paused, and stretched, and that caused a bolt of pain to shoot down to my toes. That’s when I thought, “oh, oh”. I immediately visited the physician of Google and self-diagnosed a hip flexor strain. The pain all lined up with what Dr. Google described and that brought some peace-of-mind.
At that point of my “run” I ended the work out on my handy, dandy app and was very impressed with the mile and a half pace I had achieved. Of course, I’d now have to walk the mile and a half back to my car, because again, I’m stubborn and didn’t stop running earlier. That walk was miserable. Every step hurt so freaking bad. Good times.
Since then, I’ve been treating my self-diagnosed strain according to the advice from various internet sources. I’ve also had to pivot away from running, for a bit, hoping that the rest helps it. I’ve gotten more creative and found different ways to keep working out. I’m still doing strength training, but focusing a bit more on strengthening my hips, and the muscles that support the hip. Additionally, I’m continuing the cardio work by alternating the use of a rowing machine, and an elliptical machine.
My concern is that I’m not running. I don’t want to fall off track, pun intended, and I’m praying that whatever this hip thing is gets better soon and I can go back to my training.
I had to pivot on my goal race too. Disney’s Marathon weekend, sold out. I mean ALL of the races for that weekend sold out. I was disappointed. The Half-marathon sold out the morning the registration became available. But, I had a plan B, and plan C, that aligned with my original goal-schedule. With input from my son, who will be accompanying me on this run, it was decided. It’s after-all the half that originally inspired me to want to do this many years ago. It’s the half that will take me and my son to the city that holds a lot of great memories, and there’s A LOT of people I cherish who live there. My first half marathon will be in Miami, and after some discussion with my son, it feels right. My son (the middle one) is in his 20’s so of course, he doesn’t even start training until September. I’m not upset by that, he’s got youth on his side. I have years of neglect, age, and a spunky can-do attitude on my side.
All of this: my hip, the change in the “goal race”, modifications to my training schedule, a ridiculous amount of rowing on a machine that isn’t going anywhere, reminds me that it’s important to know my goal, but to not be too rigid on how I get there. The goal doesn’t change, the path has simply encountered its first hurdle.
This entire adventure started because I want to honor God with my body. I want to care for His temple. I want to offer my life, my health, my body, my time, as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to the Lord. And, I can do this. I will pivot when I need to, just like a sofa on a staircase in a Friends episode, but I don’t want to quit, so I won’t.
I got a hiccup in my giddy up, for now. But soon, I’ll be back on track (pun intended).