I've been injured since running the Southside 12K in mid-February. I tried to rest and manage it as well as I could leading up to the Georgia Marathon in mid-March, but struggled to finish the second half of the marathon, checking into the medical tent immediately after crossing the finish line. I even used a cane for the first several days after the marathon, to avoid falling when my left leg would occasionally give way. I ached quite badly in several areas, but the pain in my left hip really concerned me. I saw a doctor within a couple of days, who prescribed X-rays on the left hip and femur. I was relieved to learn that there was no stress fracture or hip damage - so no need for hip replacement surgery!
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| With Chip Hewgley, the physical therapist that is getting me back on my feet! |
Earlier this month, I began physical therapy at Emory with Chip Hewgley. Chip had helped rehab my shoulder when I broke my collarbone four years ago, and had also treated a nagging piriformis strain about two years ago. Chip welcomed me when I walked in for my first appointment, announcing "I'm back!" His initial diagnosis was an adductor strain, so he prescribed a set of exercises. These helped for the first two weeks, but then my recovery seemed to stall out. Knowing that I had likely injured more than one muscle group, Chip watched me limp slowly around the indoor track, then evaluated my leg position. When I was lying on my stomach with legs hanging off the table, he noticed that the feet weren't hanging evenly. And when I turned onto my back and he re-examined the front of my legs, he identified the remaining problem: a weak vastus medialis muscle on the left (injured) side, compared with a stronger counterpart on the right (uninjured) side. The vastus medialis is one of the four quadriceps muscles, running down the femur to the inside of the knee. This was great news, knowing that this could be treated with exercises to strengthen the weak link!
In advance of today's race, I had run a little on Wednesday evening, but the hip was still uncomfortable. However, I diligently continued with the exercises. Last night, I was able to jog around the house without any difficulty! That wasn't fast but it was a noticeable improvement from Wednesday. This morning, I woke up early enough to do the physical therapy exercises at home before driving to the race, warming up the hip muscles with a heating pad plugged into the car's AC port. Arriving about 45 minutes before the start of the race, I went through pre-run dynamic stretches while chatting with running friends that I haven't seen in weeks. Then, with some nervousness I headed to the sidewalk to see if I could run. And I did! I didn't go too far or too fast, about a 12 min / mile pace over a half-mile. There was a little pain in the hip, but I wasn't limping! I was so relieved!
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| Pre-race photo with a few members of Tucker Running Club. We didn't know it at the time, but Donna (far right) was about to run fast enough to earn an age-group award! |
I lined up near the back of the wave E runners, 11:30 min / mile pace or faster, just in front of the walking group. I wasn't certain if I could manage an 11:30 min / mile pace, but was pretty sure that I wasn't going to be in anyone's way if I ran more slowly. I decided to set my watch on a 4 min run, 1 min walk interval. I felt a bit wistful when wave B began: last year I started on the front row of wave B, to set a new 10K personal record. But it didn't take too long for wave E to have our turn at the starting line. And with the sound of the airhorn, we were off!
Starting with wave E was a good idea. I kept up with the group without straining, and didn't feel like I needed to go faster. I made the conscious effort to avoid looking at my watch until 4 minutes in, when the first walk break sounded - and was delighted to see that I was just under an 11 min / mile pace! I decided to keep jogging until the next break. At 9 minutes the alert sounded again, and while I didn't "need" the walk break, I decided to take the break out of an abundance of caution. The first mile ticked by in 10:52 - not bad for someone that couldn't run with confidence less than a week ago!
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| I outran someone wearing this dude's jersey. |
The only discomfort was on the downhill sections, where I actually had to slow down. I probably injured myself racing downhill in the Southside 12K, and had the same difficulty in the marathon, so it's clear that I still need to rebuild the vastus medialis (and the other three quadriceps muscles). I wasn't paying too much attention to my pace, taking another 1 minute walk break at 19 minutes elapsed, and passing the mile 2 marker at 21:31, 10:39 for mile 2. And so it went, a shorter walk break at the water station around 25 minutes elapsed, passing the mile 3 marker at 32:09, 10:38 for mile 3.
I had resolved not to race at all, and had promised to restrain myself from sprinting to the finish line, no matter how well I felt. But 50 feet ahead of me was a woman sporting the jersey of Michael-Bradley-captain-of-the-US-Men's-Soccer-Team-that-failed-to-qualify-for-the-World-Cup-2018-and-embarrassed-our-nation-I-can-beat-that-loser ... and-I-slowly-gained-and-then-passed-Michael-Bradley-who-somehow-was-female-with-long-dark-hair ... and then I was back to my sober resolution to run at an easy pace. We had one more hill to climb, yay!, and then downhill, not-so-good-but-Michael-Bradley-didn't-dare-pass-me. I took a look at the watch as I made the final turn, just past 42 minutes elapsed. I maintained a steady pace through the finish, even as a man passed me in the last 20 feet, a-real-man-not-MIchael-Bradley, and I didn't care: 10:32 for mile 4, official finish time 42:41! "I'M BACK!!"
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| Thanks to Teresa Ducuara for capturing my finish, in the shade at Thrasher Park in downtown Norcross |
Even though I have not yet completely recovered, today's run was very promising. The hip muscle pain disappeared as soon as I stopped running. I have had no ill effects later today. I'm more motivated than before to keep up with the physical therapy exercises at home!
