LR Half Marathon- and the Hip

Little Rock Half Marathon

This is kind of my annual race.  I would have to check and see how many of these I have done, but it is a good handful.  I love the course.  Well, mostly.  It is not flat by any means, and somehow this year they found a way to add another hill or two.  I have never had a PR on this course, but that is kind of refreshing.  It is one of those races that I just like to do because I like to do it!  The crowd support is really good for a half marathon in this region, and I always have some family members come out to cheer me on.  Good stuff, and I will keep coming back to this event over the years.

This year I used the race as a workout/ let's just see where I am before Boston.  No sandbagging here....seriously not 1 single mile under 8 minutes on these legs since October 2015.  I was NOT looking forward to the rush of lactate that I knew would really hurt when I picked up the pace.

But the real issue for me is my hip.  It has hurt since November.  I have whined on the blog a bit.  I continue to run on it because I have really thought it was a soft tissue injury such as a bursitis or tendonosis in my external rotators.  Early February I suspected it may be a bit more than that- talked to my PT who agreed- and got an x-ray.  The x-ray was negative for stress fractures, so I kept running, even though the doctor suggested an MRI.  So, running hasn't been great.  BUT, it has been tolerable.  And sometimes I become indecisive in this area.  How much pain is too much pain?  I played through pain for most of my soccer life, so it is just hard to know when to step back and when to push through.  And the thing is, sometimes it hurts a lot when I run, and sometimes just a little.  Sometimes it starts at mile 1, and sometimes at mile 5.

My warm up was....uh oh.  Why is it hurting already?  I wasn't even a couple of miles in.

And then the race started and I had two different issues.  1.  My hip was hurting immediately- really hurting with every step.  And 2.  I was not prepared to run half marathon pace.

I put a cap on my pace before the start of the race with a 7:45 first mile.  It was an arbitrary number, but I thought it would serve me well to make sure I didn't go out too quickly and just let the race come to me.  But, no cap needed.  I couldn't even go faster than 7:45.  When your mile 1 sucks, you know you are in trouble.

So, at the end of the day, I ran a 1:39, and I didn't care one bit about my time or pace.  I just wanted to be done for the entirety of the race.  I basically just struggled the whole day through hip pain and the discomfort of not being fit enough to run quicker than marathon pace.  I did somehow put some faster miles down, and I didn't fall too far behind on the hills, but I was just miserable.  I made every bargain with my hip that I would get help if I could just finish.  The race served its purpose. My hip really hurts- no hiding in a race.

This is a picture my aunt took when she had her phone on an odd setting . It kind of cracks me up!  And really, if I could've left my hips and legs behind, I would've!  

And why finish?  Maybe this sounds completely unreasonable, but in my head I said this:  if this is a fracture, I am out after this race.  Just finish.  If it is not a fracture, I am still doing Boston, and I really need these harder miles and fitness.  Just finish.

Well, it is what it is.  I talked to Gina after the race we revised my/our Boston plan.  I will be happy to walk/run.  I also called my PT, who said the MRI had to happen immediately.  It did- got it done yesterday.  So, fingers crossed for happy results.  I would be totally 100% fine if they said they didn't see a thing on the image.  Great!  I'll suck up the pain and move forward.  Just so long as I don't have a stress fracture.  Hopefully I get an answer today.