February in Review

Total miles run: Zero, zilch, goose-egg, nada, nil.
Total hours run: See above

First, a shoutout to Carlee, of http://chasingfg.blogspot.com/
(Darn it, I can't get the link to work). She ran in the Hyannis Marathon today. I don't want to give anything away, so keep your eye on her blog for her race report.
I have been a good PT patient and done my eleven different exercises daily since my appointment this past Wednesday. They've actually become easier to do, and I believe I have some increased flexibility in my legs. My groin pain is gone, and has been replaced by a good "stretchy" feeling. I haven't done yoga in about a week. It's on hold while I'm doing my exercises. It's been 4 weeks to the day since I last ran. The New York City Half Marathon is three weeks from today. Tomorrow is my PT re-eval with (Finding Nemo) Nuno. Honestly, I'm expecting it to go well. I want him to give me permission to begin running again. With or without his permission, Tuesday becomes a test run day, only because I won't have time after my PT appointment tomorrow to run. The waiting is over. I've done everything I've been told to do. I feel good, I feel ready, and I'm pain free. Tuesday is my day. Tuesday is the day that "Marathonman Runs Again."

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Tom Petty: The Waiting

(Welcome newest Followers Whitney, KeriRose, Karen, Beth, and NY Wolve)
Well, my PT appointments are done for the week. Next Monday I go see "Nemo" for a "re-eval," meaning he has to do another PT evaluation on me to see where I stand. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This past Monday I arrived at the PT facility, expecting Nemo to perform his WWE moves on me. Instead, I was greeted by "ADHD Dave," the gym guy. I work in a school for students with learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, etc. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that Dave falls into the diagnosis of ADHD, which he confirmed when we were talking about my job. From Mayoclinic.com: "ADHD has been called attention-deficit disorder (ADD) and hyperactivity. But ADHD is the preferred term because it describes both primary aspects of the condition: inattention and hyperactive-impulsive behavior." So that meant I was more tolerant of ADHD Dave knowing that his constant pencil tapping as I exercised, appearing to not listen to what I was saying and not making eye contact, having on and off conversations with the nearby receptionist, repeatedly referring to his written notes, and having difficulty explaining what exercises I was going to be doing, and how to do them, and walking away and coming back repeatedly was alright because of his ADHD. But, ADHD Dave's quirky behavior also made PT more tolerable and entertaining. Seeing Hot Chick leading the aqua therapy session in the pool also helped make my gym sessions more tolerable. Yes, Hot Chick is the aqua therapy babe. Now I just need to figure out how I can have aqua therapy! I have about a dozen exercises to do while lying on my back or stomach. They're all aimed at helping me stretch and strengthen my lower body, legs, pelvis, and groin areas. Monday I felt like I was wasting my time doing them. I really was in denial, and assuming that ADHD Dave was going to have me do some lower-body, macho man, weight-lifting type stuff. Instead I ended up on the mat doing what I felt like were a ridiculous group of exercises; things like pushing my ass down into the mat, flattening my back against the mat, laying on my belly and picking my upper body up off the mat (and looking like a seal). Today I actually felt like the original six exercises along with the new six exercises were helping me. I felt looser and more flexible, and the ones from Monday were easier to do. Overall, it did 3 sets of 25 reps of each one, so it was a productive 50 minutes of exercising. I asked ADHD Dave if I would be able to run the NY City Half Marathon on March 21. He said it wasn't his call, but in his opinion I shouldn't do it. His main reason was that I wouldn't have enough time to train. Also that I still wasn't properly aligned and as loose as I should be. I told him that I've been running "unaligned" for three years; and tight, so that wasn't going to prevent me from running the half. I told him what I had told Nuno 3 weeks ago: With or without their approval, I am still running the half, since my groin pain is no longer an issue. I asked him when he thought I'd be able to resume running. He again said it wasn't his call, and that it would be Nemo's or "Runner Bob's" call. Runner Bob is supposed to be the running expert there. ADHD Dave said that Nemo would have a better idea of whether I can resume running after my re-eval on Monday. Nemo overheard this, and said that Runner Bob may have a say in the decision also. I'm quickly running out of patience. It's been 24 days since I last ran. I've been able to tolerate the long layoff with the thought that once this is over, I'll be a more flexible and stronger runner. Things happen for a reason, and the reasons in this case are clear. I need to take my training more seriously. I need to stretch, strengthen, do yoga, and become a better runner with better running mechanics. I will start taking running more seriously, but not too serious. I want to improve and to grow as a runner, but not at the cost of it no longer being fun. Now if only I can begin running again, I will be able to experience the fun. I'm so done with the waiting...

I Need Your Help; and Random Thoughts

First, my random thoughts, in asterisk form:

* I joined a running group!! Thanks to Lisa http://watchlisarun.blogspot.com/ I went to the website http://www.meetup.com/ and found a running group with 300+ members.
* I finally added up my mileage for 2009. No, I'm not technologically smart enough to create a spreadsheet or whatever it's called to automatically track it. I ran a total of 826.41 miles. Not bad considering I didn't run for 3 weeks in January.
* I practiced yoga twice this past week. I bought a DVD, "Essential Yoga For Inflexible People" by Maggie Rhoades for $7.99 on Amazon. I like it. It's a keeper.
* 4 weeks to go until the New York City Half Marathon
* I last ran three weeks ago. YIKES (See asterisk above)
* I'm still doing my stretches, and I'm feeling a little more "Gumby-like"
* Three weeks to go until we "spring ahead."
* If I win the lottery, I'm hiring a Personal Trainer, or at least someone to stretch the heck out of my legs
* I have a crush on Hannah Storm of ESPN. To my wife: as you know, Hannah's happily married and so am I. At least I think we still are, right dear?!


* Welcome to my newest Follower "Bootchez."
* I was tagged with the "Sunshine Award" sometime this past week by Stephanie. http://50marathonchallenge.blogspot.com I'm sure most of you have already been tagged with this award. If not, please feel free to copy and paste it to your blogs and award it to yourself. The award is at the top of my blog. I'm supposed to award it to 12 of my loyal followers who put a smile on my face with their blogs. Well, the 20 of you who responded to my last post may tag yourselves. I never was good at following directions anyhow.
* My wife bought me a Hooker shirt...as in Thomas Hooker Brewing Company. We were there this past Friday night. No, that's not me wearing the shirt.

* I FINALLY figured out how to put a link in my blog that you can click on and go to.
* I'm strongly disliking ("hate" is too strong of a word) a few running blogs that are out there. Why? Because they shamelessly promote way too many products and look like a blogging billboard instead of a running blog. Matter of fact, I stopped following and commenting on one particular blog for that reason. If you want to promote a product, that's fine. I myself have recommended certain products in the past year. However, my recommendations are based on my honest opinion without any compensation or pressure from the manufacturer. There's some other things I could say, but I won't.
* By the way, I'm not referring to any of you. So relax!

OK, I need your help, please. I want everyone to give me one word, or a phrase, that best describes how you feel about running; or that describes running in general. For example, I've already written down determination, inspiring, and a few other words. So tell me a phrase, word, words, or whatever comes to mind when you think about yourself or another runner. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll explain why I want your word(s) and phrases in about a week. I'll keep you in suspense for now.

Finding Nuno: The Sequel

PT appointment #4 today with PT guy "Nuno." I immediately decided to ask him the million dollar question: "Will I be able to run in the New York City Half Marathon four weeks from Sunday?" Before I tell you his answer, I'll tell you all the boring details of my PT session. If the suspense is killing you, then feel free to skip the boring details of my PT session. PT session was the same stuff he's been doing. Ultrasound followed by groin area kneading. Once again, no major pain to report. Woo-Hoo! He followed the groin area attack by stretching my legs for me as I lay on the PT table. He made comments like "Good" and "OK" while he was stretching me out. I guess "Good" and "OK" mean I'm progressing. I asked him about my right leg being pathetically less flexible than my left leg, and his response surprised me. Since I favor my right leg and use it more than my left, it gets tighter. I've noticed a significant difference while running the past few months, where it felt like my left leg was just kinda along for the run, and not contributing much. That and mt groin pain was why I went to my doctor, and ended up finding Nuno. I questioned why if I use my right leg more then why is it tighter? He said it's from the muscles contracting and some other technical stuff that I should remember from my OT days but don't. After stretching out my legs, I was done. I didn't get to see "Dave" the gym dude after all. I didn't question why, since (confession here) I was still feeling the after-affects of consuming too many $2 Bud Lights at SportsHaven last night. So the last thing I wanted to do was go in the gym and demonstrate how weak and tired this 53 year old guy was. My next appointment is Monday, so I'm assuming I'll be going in the gym then. Note to self: Get a good night's sleep Sunday night.

*NUNO'S RESPONSE: Nuno wasn't poker faced today. He actually smiled, and his response was a simple "Yes." Of course I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly, so I said "Really?" He once again said "Yes." It's amazing how such a short conversation could have such a powerful meaning. Powerful enough that I got goosebumps while driving home and thinking about it. Powerful enough that I get choked-up just writing about it. Yes, I threw that statement out there, knowing that not only you guys will be reading it, but also my wife and her co-worker who apparently are not-so-secret readers of my blog. I don't care. I'm going to be able to run in the NY City Half Marathon on March 21st, and I'm damn proud and emotional about it. One problem: I forgot to ask Nuno when I can actually start running again. I guess I'd better ask him that question on Monday. P.S. Welcome new Followers jkaiser, L.B., EZEthan, and Brandi.

Finding Nuno

(I know, this is Nemo)

PT appointment #3 today. PT guy Nuno (his real name) took me into the tiled-over cinder-block room right on time and asked me how I was feeling. I told him there's no more groin pain, which of course is good news. But I told him my back's been hurting, which is not related to the groin pain, meaning the groin pain didn't decide to move out of my groin and take up residence in my back. Nuno recommended I lay with a huge heated pad under my back while he used the ultrasound. Before starting, he asked me when the NY City Half Marathon was. I told him in 34 days, and he said nothing. Interesting. A poker faced no comment. I also told him that even if he told me not to run the half marathon, I was being honest and telling him that I would anyway. Again, no response, but at least he smiled. Nuno went to work with the ultrasound. At one point I told him I bought the Yoga DVD for inflexible people, and he laughed. Yes, my wife and my PT are on the same page with me trying yoga. After about 10 minutes, there was a knock on the door. I was hoping it was hot chick (See February 3rd post), but of course it wasn't. Nuno was needed somewhere else, so he apologized and said he'd be back in a few minutes. In the meantime I was able to determine that above me were 6 fluorescent light bulbs, 25 ceiling tiles, and 36 grids covering the lights. A short time later I realized that my ass felt like it was on fire. The towel between my ass and the humongous heating pad wasn't working as well as it was supposed to. Since my hands were cold, I problem solved and stuck them underneath my ass to warm them up and to keep my ass from being overcooked. I lay there for about ten minutes before Nuno returned. Fortunately the heating pad had cooled a bit so I had removed my hands before he came back. I really didn't want to explain that one to him had he come back and seen me. Nuno completed the ultrasound on both groin areas (stop laughing), and then went for his version of a WWE move: The groin area killer kneading. This time he was unsuccessful in generating any pain at all. Yes, my groin was pain free (stop laughing again). Progress has been made after just 3 PT sessions. When I go back on Friday, he's having me see Dave for some strengthening exercises. He, Dave and I talked for a few minutes and he told Dave I was a runner and running the half marathon in 34 days, and I would be seeing him on Friday. No comment from Dave about the 34 day timetable either. We talked about running, and how I was hoping to strengthen my lower body and core, plus hopefully become more flexible. Dave said we'd start off slow with the strengthening and go from there. Patience is not a strong point of mine. I'm off this week, and can't run. I'm feeling upbeat though, since the groin pain's gone, and I'll start exercises on Friday, along with my stretches, and yes, yoga. Go ahead, flexible, stretchy, and strong people, laugh at me. You can touch your toes, flex like Gumby, and lift more weight than me. But when you're 53 if you are running marathons, are strong, and can still stretch, THEN I'll be impressed. Just watch out for the 80 year old guy still blogging and still running. P.S. Welcome my 3 new Followers: Katye, Jen, and Anne.

PT Session #2...Going, Going, Groin

I've been a good boy and been doing my stretching this week. Heck, I even took some of your suggestions and bought a yoga DVD: "Essential Yoga For Inflexible People." It cost me $10.97 total, including shipping on Amazon.com, so even if I never use it (Which will never happen, since all of you will nag/remind me to use it), it didn't cost me a lot. Having informed my wife of this, she laughed all the way out the door as she headed to work this morning. Maybe she just happened to think of a funny joke at the moment I told her... Maybe the funny joke in her mind was me buying the yoga DVD. In any case, it should arrive here any day now. Then I will commence doing yoga in a toga.* With just over 5 weeks to go until the NY City Half Marathon, I'm feeling upbeat. My PT session yesterday with Nuno (Yes, that's his REAL name) went well. I would even venture to guess that I'm making good progress. Nuno did the ultrasound thing again around my groin area (Wow, I feel so close to you guys by sharing this!) and once again followed it by kneading and pressing the heck out of the area afterward. Much to my surprise, I had a LOT less pain, meaning the inflammation has decreased, the blood's flowing better, and whatever technical PT razzle dazzle he told me that I've forgotten. Nuno told me to continue doing my exercises at home, and I only have to see him on Monday and Friday next week. So, I will continue to do my home exercises, start practicing yoga when my DVD arrives (Stop laughing wife Kathy who at times reads my blog and doesn't comment), and hopefully soon will be able to incorporate strengthening also. Next week I will be brave enough to ask Nuno how my progress is going, and his opinion about when I can resume running again. I'm off next week, and not being able to run then is bothering me. I guess I'll have to be patient, something which I'm not good at.
Finally, THANK-YOU to Anais, Erin C., Bootchez, and Lisa for the run and exercise dedications. It really meant a lot to me. Also, LMAO at RunKathyRun's "Hurt So Good" song comment. It's funny how my post on my groin issues were able to generate 12 responses from you guys. I think that's a record amount of responses to my blog, but geez, over Gumby and my groin? Seriously though, all of your comments do mean a lot to me, especially since every one of them put a smile on my face. As I've said before, I may not have a lot of followers, but the 41 I have are truly the best. Here's a blog "hug" for all of you, especially the terrific twelve who commented. UPDATE: Yoga starts today. I received my dvd in the mail yesterday. Of course I will not do my yoga if my wife is home...she's such a naysayer sometimes!
*Ok, yoga, but not in a toga

Just Call Me Gumby

Yesterday I went for my first real PT treatment. After discovering that my copay is $20 (Gasp), I was met by "Noonan" or whatever the heck PT guy's name is. Seriously, it's something like that, and I should be able to remember it, but of course I don't. So I'll just call him PT Guy for now. PT Guy and I headed into the PT treatment room which is about the size of the trunk of a Cadillac. The room is large enough to hold lots of bags of groceries, but barely big enough to hold me and PT Guy. OK, I'm lying, but it was a small room. So PT Guy has me lay down on my back on the PT table, which is 6 feet long, and I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall. So I laid (lie?) there with my heels hanging over the edge of the table, and he tells me to get comfortable, which meant put the two ridiculously thin pillows under my head, and lie there with my heels still hanging over the edge of the table. He then proceeds to tell me the treatment plan. First, ultrasound heat around my groin area, followed by massaging of the groin area, followed by stretching. Now I'm freaking out because I'm not looking forward to PT Guy massaging my groin area. No explanation required. He then instructs me to unbuckle my belt and unfasten my pants so he can put this cold gel on me before he does the ultrasound treatment. He covers my groin area with a towel, and proceeds to use the ultrasound treatment to...well let's let ehow.com explain how it works: Use Ultrasound Therapy to Relieve Pain
Step 1: Recognize the benefits of ultrasound therapy. Increased circulation and decreased inflammation are two healthy advantages of this method of physical therapy.
Step 2: Treat injured tissue with high frequency sound waves. Sound waves are used to penetrate specific muscle areas, causing internal warming to the area. As a result, tight muscles become relaxed, providing relief from pain.
Step 3: Understand that the use of ultrasound increases the blood flow to the affected area thus allowing the proteins in the blood to repair themselves. This is ideal for soft tissue injuries.
Sounds great, huh? Well, apart from the weird pulsating sensation that I felt, and the warmth, it was indeed great. Great until PT Guy performed the next step: The deep kneading of the groin area. (Please note I'm saying the groin AREA, not the groin) OMG, it was torture. After about 5 minutes, I had enough, and thankfully he was finished. I felt some pain, but it was good pain. He followed that with what I will call the "Gumby" moves. The Gumby moves involved stretching my legs in every conceivable direction while asking me if I felt any pain. It was pretty much one extreme or the other, depending on which way he gumby'd me. It made me realize that I still have a long way to go to gain better flexibility. Before leaving, PT Guy showed me two simple stretches I can do at home. Since they're not too difficult or painful, I know I'll be doing them as instructed. I didn't bother to ask him whether I'll be able to run in the NY City Half Marathon on March 21st. Right now I'm taking it slowly and easy, one session at a time. I'm trying to be patient and look at the big picture, where I'm a more flexible and stronger runner. At least that's what I'm telling myself right now to ease the pain of not being able to run.

Straight From the Heart

I canceled my PT appointment this past Friday. I had to attend an important(?) meeting after our students went home, so blowing it off to take care of groin issues would have been unwise. I searched online and found about ten exercises to do that are good for a groin strain and all involve adductor stretches, which is what PT guy told me we'd be doing. I'll also be receiving ultrasound treatments and heat along with the torturous stretching I'll be doing at PT. Yesterday I did all four stretches, and hated them. Hating stretching and the pain involved is why I'm in this situation now. I've been lazy, having not stretched for about the past year. My (il)logical reasoning for not doing them was because, you guessed it, it hurts. When I did my stretches yesterday, they indeed did hurt. But it's a good pain. I also discovered that when I sit in a chair and cross my right leg over my left leg at the knee, my right knee is up in the air about six inches. That can't be good, especially since I don't have that problem when I cross my left leg over my right. I'll ask PT guy about that. You would think I would have noticed that before, huh?! So I'm adopting the "No pain, no gain" motto for this. I know the temporary pain will help me recover quickly, be more flexible, be stronger, and run faster. My times in 2009 were slower than my previous year. Up until now I was attributing it to becoming older and having plateaued with my running. For the past six months or so I've been feeling more like I've been forcing my run rather than running naturally. Meg explains this better than I ever could in her blog in this post: (Sorry, I STILL can't figure out make it take you to the link when you click on it) http://megrunsalot.blogspot.com/2010/02/power-vs-force.html So for 2010, I'm vowing to stretch and exercise more, using more work and time and less power (again, see Meg's post). Assuming my 53 year old body can get into better shape through exercising and stretching, then I vow to go for PR's in a 5K and a half marathon this year. The trade-off will be that I still have no plans to run another marathon. I would have liked to have broken a 4 hour marathon finishing time and am not satisfied with my NY City Marathon time. But, my training time is limited and I don't have the desire or motivation to spend six months training for another marathon. Training for marathons had become more of a chore than I wanted it to be. Running was no longer fun, and if it wasn't fun, then I didn't want to do it, or reluctantly did it. Maybe I'll change my mind about another marathon once I've loosened and strengthened my legs and lower body and learned to run more naturally and less forcefully. I may even look into joining a running group to help motivate me more. I'm bored running by myself, and up until now not having running goals also made me less likely to run, or run with a purpose. Now I have goals, and that will help. I may look into joining a gym to also keep me motivated to exercise, but only if I can find one that doesn't look intimidating with 20 something year olds as the only members. I get out of work at 3, and there's a PT place a few miles from where I work that has a gym. It's pretty well deserted at 3 p.m. and the people who work there are helpful. It's where I had my PT the last time I was injured. I've also been asked my a few co-workers to teach them how to run once the warm weather arrives, so I'm looking forward to that. Before I go, I have a favor to ask. Please dedicate your next run to me, or someone you know who can't run. Send some of your positive running vibes to them and me, and help us recover that much sooner and faster and become that much stronger. Crazy perhaps, but it can't hurt, can it? Run because you can, because you want to, and because you need to. Running is a gift. A gift that you'll treasure forever and never want to give up. Enjoy your run: admire the scenery, listen to the sounds around you, smell the fresh air, listen to your feet pounding the ground, groove to your music, sweat like a pig. In other words, get out there and run and do whatever it takes to have fun...

Due to Popular Demand...OK, Not Really

Here's my running songs playlist. Most of you who have followed me for a while will recognize the songs you suggested I listen to 3 months ago. As you can tell, I was/still am an Elton John and an ELO addict. These songs were chosen by my personal taste from having 1970's flashbacks (I graduated from high school in 1974), your suggestions, and by being a geek and doing lots of internet searches for "popular songs." Please feel free to comment and suggest songs for me to add. Happy Friday everyone!

Coldplay: Viva la Vida
Culture Club - Karma Chameleon.
The Cure - Just Like Heaven.
Daniel Powter - You Had a Bad Day
David Bowie - Modern Love
ELO - Hold On Tight
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - Evil Woman.- Do Ya
ELO - Sweet Talking Woman
ELO: Illusions in G Major
The James Gang: Walk Away
Elton John - Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
Elton John - Grow Some Funk of Your Own
Elton John – I’m Still Standing
Kansas - Point of No Return
Foreigner - Cold As Ice
Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son.
KC & The Sunshine Band – That’s The Way I Like It
Europe – It’s The Final Countdown.
KC and the Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight
Frank Sinatra-New York, New York
Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You.
The Killers - Mr Brightside.
Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe.
The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child (Things are Gonna Get Easier)
Foreigner - Dirty White Boy
Matchbox 20 - How Far We’ve Come
Lady Gaga - Poker Face
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell.
Grand Funk Railroad - Bad Time
The Monkees-Im Not Your Steppin’ Stone
Led Zeppelin – Nobody’s Fault But Mine
Orleans – You’re Still the One
The Guess Who--American Woman.
Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
Pink - Get This Party Started
Pat Benatar - All Fired Up
Green Day - Minority.
Ram Jam - Black Betty.
Rick Springfield – Jessie’s Girl.
Pink - Who Knew
ELO: Mr. Blue Sky.
The Monkees - Day Dream Believer
Led Zeppelin - Rock and Roll.
Tommy Tutone - 8675309 Jenny.
Steely Dan: Reelin in the Years
Toto - Rosanna
Little River Band - Lonesome Loser.
Toto - Hold the Line.
U2 - Beautiful Day.
Lynard Skynard - Gimme Three Steps.
Bill Conte: Theme From Rocky - Gonna Fly Now
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
Pink- Ur Hand.
The Vapors - Turning Japanese.
Pink - So What
Betty Everett – It’s In His Kiss (Shoop Shoop Song)
The Partridge Family - I Think I Love You.
REM - Stand
B52’s - love shack
Toto - Africa.
Spiral Staircase- I Love You More Today Than Yesterday
The Tokens: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Village People - YMCA
Madness - Our House
MFSB - TSOP (long version).
The Kinks - Come Dancing
Tom Jones – It’s Not Unusual.
Tom Petty - Running Down a Dream
Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything For Love
Tavares - It Only Takes a Minute Girl
Tom Jones: She’s a Lady
Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen.
Bon Jovi - It’s My Life
Kevin Rudolf and Lil Wayne - Let It Rock.
Wild Cherry- Play That Funky Music
Green Day-Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
The Pointers Sisters – I’m So Excited
Golden Earring - Radar Love
Apollo 100 - Joy
Alan Parsons Project - Where Do We Go From Here
The All American Rejects - Dirty Little Secrets
The All American Rejects - Gives You Hell
BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive)- Taking Care of Business.
BTO - You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Blink182 - All The Small Things
Elton John - The Bitch Is Back
Bowling For Soup - 1985
Brownsville Station: Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run.
Bryan Adams - Summer of 69

Great News

Physical Therapy appointment went as well as I had hoped. Without getting too medical technical, I have a groin strain, inflammation of that area and nearby areas, and a messed up body alignment. Today he was pulling my left leg to even it out with my right and twisting and turning both my legs. I'm scheduled for PT 3 days a week for the next two weeks, then will probably be able to cut back to twice a week. This is what I'll be doing (Of course once again I can't get the link to work) http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprainsstrains/a/groinstrain_2.htm I'm taking motrin for the inflammation, and was told not to run until further notice. Of course I'm also not stretching like I'm supposed to, so that contributed to this happening. My next appointment is this Friday, so I guess I'll take it one day at a time, follow his instructions, and get well enough to run as soon as possible. It's times like this that make me even more appreciative of when I can run. I'm extremely happy that I don't have a hernia or anything seriously wrong. Plus I'm sure I'll be even better than ever when this is over. Only disappointing thing was I wish I had gotten the hot girl for my PT. Although having hot girl for PT probably would have been counterproductive since I probably would have been too distracted to focus on my task at hand. Oh well! I don't have any excuses not to go catch up on reading your blogs...so off I go to bloggerland.