Sunrise.

Posted by Dr. Mom

My son turned 4 this week and we are having his birthday party on the weekend. There is lots to do and I just had to get a run in before the weekend. Normally I would run home from work but the husband asked that I get home as soon as possible so we could tidy up and that’s when I remembered that I have to take the cat to the Veterinarian tonight.

What’s a girl to do?

I set my alarm for 6:25 am. Husband thought I was a little nutso for doing so and I’m sure he placed a little bet to himself that I would just roll over and ignore it. But I didn’t! I had a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt and a glass of water and headed out.

I felt great for the first 10 minutes. Then I realized how tired I was and had to walk more than I normally do, but I soldiered on and finished my 5 km in a decent time.

Overall, it was really nice to get out early and get the run done. I think I may make a weekly habit of doing this early in the morning. It certainly frees up the rest of the day to do other stuff, like cleaning my house.

A Pain in the ….

Posted by Dr. Mom

About a week before the 5K race I started noticing a subtle ache in my lower back. It’s been there on and off in the past, mostly related to the pregnancies but this time it wasn’t going away. I felt great during the race and after but in the week that followed the ache turned into something more. Then I chalked it up to the monthly cycle low back pain but it didn’t go away when the monthly cycle left. It started wrapping around to the front, near my hip bone.

Uh oh.

Injured.

Again?!?!?????

I thought I had been doing so well. Apparently not.

I saw a massage therapist who suggested I see a chiropractor. I had been thinking about getting into some ART therapy. I had heard about this from the FB running group I follow and heard it was pretty good for soft tissue injuries. Now, the last time I saw a chiropractor was probably close to 20 years ago and it involved a lot of back and neck cracking. I wasn’t too keen on going down that route.

I was pleasantly surprised by my experience with this new chiropractor. He assessed me quickly as having very tight hips which were due to weak glutes. Pretty much exactly as I had suspected and he went on to do some active release therapy on my hips. I have incredibly tight hip flexors.

And this pretty much sums my situation up.

After 15 minutes of active release therapy, all I can say is “owie” and “wow”. At the end of the session my lower back and hips, while still aching, felt 100% looser than when I went in. Sadly that didn’t last but I have been working hard all week on stretching and opening up the hip joints. I have a lot of work to do. I am going to scale back on the distance and stick with no more than 5 km runs for a few weeks until this settles down.

No Going Back Now.

Posted by Dr. Mom

Um… Shit just got real, yo!

I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve run 5km, but suddenly I feel like “Oh my God, what if I can’t finish?”

I never ran track or took part in any group/team sports. I did some dance and ballet as a kid and played the piano, that’s about it. I remember getting really nervous before a piano recital or exam (I made it to grade 11 Royal Conservatory). Before most exams in university and medical school I would need a bathroom visit at least once or twice before walking into the examination room. My running friends say they have “tummy” issues all the time before a race and I’ve suggested they take an Immodium the night before a race to calm the nervous bowel. I have no idea if that’s going to happen to me. Should I take one just in case?

I’ve been getting emails daily, sometimes twice a day, from the race coordinators and every time I see it in my inbox, my heart skips a beat. Why am I doing this?! I’ve got nothing to prove. Is it going to be fun or am I going to be a ball of nerves? I have no idea what to expect!

Gah!

I just want to wake up and have it be March 2.

Another 5K Baby!

Posted by Dr. Mom

Day 25 – January Daily Blog Posting Month.

As we got a small reprieve from the deep freeze, I decided to take advantage of the reasonably “warm” day (it was -3°C, -10°C with windchill) and go out for a run. I had my route in mind and hoped it would be enough to reach 5km.

Yes, yes it was.

And I did it 3 minutes faster!

That is all.

(I am making oatmeal cookies for the kids. I swear, for the kids.)

5k baby!!

Posted by Dr. Mom

Day 16 – January Daily Blog Posting Month

Yes!!!

My first post-partum run was 2.73 km on November 13, 2013. Nine weeks and 12 runs later and I cracked the 5 km mark. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was not easy. In fact, it was probably the toughest run I’ve ever done. Tough because it was cold, tough because I didn’t want to keep going after 2.5 km, tough because my shins, ankles, and right SI joint were on fire.

But I did it and I’m so glad I did.