Slowing down... even more.

Well, poo.

I found out yesterday that I can't run anymore. Or, eh, "It would be a good idea for you to not run anymore."

What?

So much for my big 8-mile run the other day. Maybe that's why I whined so much in my blog entry about it, because I think deep down, I knew something was painfully wrong with me, and I just really wanted those last 8 miles to count. But I do wish that I had appreciated it in the moment that much more. If I had only known it would probably be my last good run... ever.

As I mentioned in the blog entry, my knee had been bothering me a lot lately. But not only my knee, my hip too. Then after the 8-mile run the other day, I literally couldn't move the next day. My right hip was full of sharp pain even trying to walk. So I finally broke down and made an appointment with a chiropractor that my friend in yoga recommend I go see. I even drove to Georgia for this chiropractor because of how he claimed this chiropractor fixed him for a similar problem.

Turns out, we have a very different problem. An exam and two X-rays later, turns out my hips are very much out of alignment due to a disformity in my "transitional vertabrae," which is basically where the spine and hips intersect. Apparently when I was born, my left end vertabrae grew into my hip when there is supposed to be a gap between the vertabrae and the hip. So because of this misalignment, my right hip has been working overtime to keep balance, furthermore misaligning my bottom vertabrae of my spine crushing them together (one reason for my lower back pain I've always had), furthermore misaligning my knee causing that pain as well. Here's a diagram she gave me that looked just like my X-ray, kind of interesting.



And because of the high impact of running, that is what aggravates it more. Considering I never ran much in my life until last July when I started hard core, that's why I never knew about this problem sooner. But over the course of my running, the impact has been irritating it more and more, and last week, my hips finally said ENOUGH, hence the sharp pains.

Great.

Just when I was really starting to love running.

The doctor did say I definitely shouldn't run for 6-8 weeks while I continue treatments, then after that, try to only go for 2-3 miles, if I "have" to run. Woo. I love to at least do 5 miles on my run. But I guess 2-3 is better than nothing. As long as I can WALK for everyday stuff, that's all I care about at this point. What I've been most concerned about is being able to run around for shooting weddings, so I am grateful to still be able to do that. That's what worried me the most with wedding season starting up again this coming weekend and going non-stop for me until July. Any photographer will agree, shooting requires a lot of physical strength throughout the day.

I don't know why I'm sharing all this personal health info on my blog for the world to see. I guess writing about it and being vulnerable with you somehow gives me a hope that everything will eventually be better, and that one day I can look back at this blog entry and see how God came through... once again.

Like one of my favorites quotes says, "there is no testimony with out the test." :-)