Yowee

Finally! I was able to make time to run at the park. It's been a couple of weeks since I've run outdoors, so even the thought of running multiple loops at the park didn't sound so bad. I decided to do 3 loops (+ the .1), so a total of 9 miles.

When I first walked outside, I noticed that the ground was damp. Since I hadn't had a chance to watch the news in a couple of days, I had no idea it was supposed to rain. As I made my way to the park, it began to drizzle. I decided to keep going, because you know Houston weather...it could be pouring and flooding in one area and bright and sunny in another. Luckily, when I arrived at the park, it was not raining at all.

I stretched a bit, making sure to concentrate on the back/butt area that was hurting earlier in the week. When I started running, I felt that familiar pain again everytime I took a step with my right foot. It started to slowly recede around 1 1/2 miles into the run. I felt really rusty, creaky and stiff for most of the entire 1st loop. Partly because of the pain and partly because it's been a couple of weeks since I've run more than 3 miles. About 1/2 way through my 1st loop, I began to feel another familiar pain...the good ol' feeling of being stabbed in the knee...a.k.a. ITB pain. I think this happened because I was trying to overcompensate for the back/butt pain and altered my gait.

ITB pain sucks. Big time.

As I was completing my 2nd loop, the pain would come and go. I was feeling a bit tired about 1/2 way around loop 2, which was probably due to my pace - it lingered between 10:30 & 10:45, which is faster than normal for me. Then, somewhere between the 2 1/2 and 2 3/4 mile marker, the pain made me walk...and walk slowly. I hobbled over to a bench and did a bit of stretching. That seemed to help, but only for a couple of minutes. I ran a bit more and then walked the rest of the loop. Under the circumstances, I thought trying to complete the 3rd loop would not be a good idea.

I have not had severe ITB pain in a couple of years. I've had a twinge here and there, but then it would be gone...but, this is definintely worse than a twinge. In fact, the pain grew worse as the day went on. Any other time, I would have my ITB band thingy with me and would wrap it around my leg and things would be better. I've had it wrapped around my fuel belt for 2 years...just in case I needed it. Today, since I was staying in the park, I didn't bring fuel belt.

So that was my run...good pace, bad pain. Afterwards, I took the kiddo to play group, then dropped her off at my Sister-in-Law's so she could play with my nephews while I headed to the library for an accounting cram session. Afterwards, we went home and hung out...which included coloring, reading books and playing with the kiddo's toy house. So, the day started out bad, but definitely got better!