This song is in my head a bit today. In order to best explain way, let me scoot back just a few days...
Over the past weekend, I ran my second (yes, my SECOND) half-marathon. Okay, done being super, overly proud of myself. Anyway, my last half-marathon was a success in that I finished it and accomplished one of my goals. However, it was an extremely painful success! I spent several days afterward in all kinds of pain - so sore that it was a challenge to walk up the stairs. Consequently, I made it a point to improve my efforts when I began training for my second half-marathon.
For the past few months, I have really stepped it up. I noticed a significant decrease in the number of times where I pulled a "I'm Too Tired To Run Today" move. I felt like a RUNNER. Also, I started doing my long training runs with a group of girlfriends. If anything is going to help me improve, it's chasing after a bunch of ladies who are about 100 times faster than I!
Alas...just a few weeks ago, I started having some very painful knee issues. There were a few times where I was limping about, basically dragging my right foot behind me. No longer a RUNNER. Still, I hadn't gotten so far in my training schedule to abandon ship. I iced, rested, took things a bit slower...etc.
Fast-forward to the day of the half-marathon (also known as...This Past Saturday). The girls and I drove up to Ashton, ID to run the Mesa Falls Half-Marathon or Marathon. Saturday morning, I was feeling fine and pumped for the race. Could not have asked for a better start to the day. For the first six miles or so, I felt like I was on top of the world! I was running better than I had ever run! The time was flying by!
Then, at about mile 6.5, it struck again. I was basically standing on the side of the road, trying not to cry. I was in pain (pain, pain, pain - by golly). But, I was also so disappointed! My LOVELY MOTHER (seriously, the best mother in the entire world!) came back and helped me limp through to the ending.
I finished, just barely. And the rest of our Idaho trip was quite fun. We stayed in a beautiful cabin and got some AWESOME massages (from the owner of the cabin!). It was a lovely trip. See the picture below with all of us lovely ladies smiling super big? A great indicator of how much fun was had!
But, I've been in some knee-pain since. I've been learning that rest and ice are the best remedies. However, I also learned that it's pretty likely that I have a common runner's injury in my IT Band. This is caused by stressing a muscle in the thigh. And...there you have it!! The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone!!! See, the title of this post wasn't a trick afterall. And what led me to write it was this:Sitting at my desk, working, I have noticed that if I massage my leg, it makes things feel a little better. THEN, I noticed if I massaged my hip/butt area, that felt better too!! It took me a moment, but I had to giggle at the fact that I was sitting at my desk, rubbing my own butt.
