The more things change...well, you know.

Ok I suck ass lately as a blogger. I haven't been writing, but truly it was for a great reason. I was running my ass into the ground. For the month of January I ran 97 miles. In February I ran 116 miles! Between all the running and work and rugrats things have been super hectic.

I decided to be as boringly consistent as possible in my running and to quit questioning my coach and just do as he says.

Coach: Run 12 miles today.
Me: YESSIR! At what pace?

Coach: Run easy 6 miles today.
Me: OK! I'll go slow.
Everything was going great with my training. Until

dun dun dun!
I tripped and fell while running on some single track a couple of weeks ago. I didn't exactly FALL.. I sort of caught myself in mid-trip (which was slow motion in my mind) and was so happy that I didn't fall right on my face in mud that I gave a little happy dance for joy. I didn't think anything about it until

dun dun dun!
I went for a 14 mile run the next morning. Nothing hurt as I was running. After 3 miles I propped up my foot on a flower pot to tie my shoe and as I leaned forward I felt a tightness/pulling in my Gluteus .. I ignored it tied my shoe and continued to finish my run. No big whoop.

I did all my runs for the rest of the week with no problem whatsoever. I took thursday off entirely since I was over my weekly mileage. I went to bed thursday night looking forward to a nice 8 mile fartlek the next morning.

Friday morning I got out of bed and Dun Dun DUN! MY ASS AND HIP HURT LIKE HELL! Just walking around the house. JUST WALKING! I thought, maybe I slept in a wierd position or maybe ... it was that half trip a few days earlier. But I knew the pain from several years ago. Sharp pain in my hip and butt that had derailed my first 2 attempts at CIM.

Saturday I was feeling a bit worse but took an Motrin and left for my 16 mile run. I decided that if after 6 miles I still hurt, I would cut my run short and come home. Lo and behold, at mile 6, I felt GREAT! So I continued on. By mile 10 I was struggling to keep a 10 min/mile pace. My stomach was upset (from Motrin), My hip/butt hurt, and my knee hurt.

I hobbled home having completed the 16 miles in 2:55. Lame. I emailed the sports medicine doc and quickly had an appointment for wednesday morning.


So the Good News:As I suspected I pulled a couple of glute muscles and that destabilized my hip, causing pain.

MD said things look REALLY GOOD for several reasons:

1. I haven’t seen her for almost 2 years. This bodes well for my prognosis.
2. My hips/leg muscles are EXTREMELY STRONG.
3. I came in very early before severe injury took place. She also said I was smart to not run since Saturday.
4. It is a minor “butt pull”.

LET THE BUTT JOKES BEGIN!

I got a bunch of stretches/exercises and she is telling me to ICE until I turn into SNOW MISER.


I am to take the rest of the week OFF of running and then test it early next week. I have Shamrockn' Half Marathon on March 11th so this injury is really cutting it close.

On the home front, the impossible happened. RugRat #1 asked to move back in with us. She moved out from our home in a big huff 4 years ago. She was 15, a big btch at the time, and we had "RULES" at our house. Rules like she needed to do her homework and that she couldn't have a TV in her room. Husband and I were VERY upset that she elected to move in with her mom (husband's XW). After moving in with her mom, she was put on a 5150 hold, dropped out of high school and did nothing but sit on her mom's couch and play video games for 2 years.

Honestly, I never thought that we would be able to forge a relationship with her. Slowly over time, things changed. She got her equivalency and started community college. She has been looking for a job. Some other things happened with her mom's living situation. All this time, husband and I were calm, collected and stable--BORING she would call us.

Then, two weeks ago she talked to her dad and asked if she could move back in with us --she said she "got it" now that rules and structure are good things and that she needs it.

We told her yes. Holy Hell. I was starting to think that with RugRat #2 being 17 that it would only be a couple of years until we would be empty nesters. Since she moved out we converted RugRat #1's old room into a "workout room" with treadmill, closet full of workout clothes and huge rubbermaid containers of cycling stuff. We had plans for RugRat #2's room too-- a music room that would include my cello, husband's drums, and the guitars. We will be moving all the sports stuff tonight and I suppose that the music room will need to wait too.


Pfff... I am looking forward to it, as is her sister who has missed her terribly the last few years. I think it will be good for all of us to be a complete family again. Warts and all.

But, I really liked having all my sports stuff together in one place too. :)

And not to disappoint you all-- I didn't let a minor butt pull thwart my attempt and doing another marathon, so I went ahead and signed up for both San Francisco Marathon (July 29th) and California International Marathon (December 2nd). I KNOW that a vowed to never to SFM ever again, but I was pursuaded by my friends who smartly appealed to my cheapskateness thriftiness.