Well, folks. I’m out of commission. I finally had to face facts. It’s time to take a break to heal this darn hip. I have an appointment with my regular doctor next Wednesday, but I’m thinking of skipping right to the sports medicine doc that took care of Mr. Neon’s knee last year. I’m pretty sure we aren’t going to get any serious answers without an MRI. I’ve tried everything else.

As much as this sucks, I’m trying to embrace it. Ok…whatever…I’m not embracing. I’m wallowing. I’m whining. (Poor Mr. Neon!) Not only does my hip hurt just to walk, but I’m mad at myself for letting it get this bad. I’m mad at myself for thinking that it would go away on it’s own, that I could run through it, and that I could continue to make gains without any setbacks.

And now I can’t run…shouldn’t run.

The straw that broke the camel’s back…I went out for a PR at the Easter Sun Run 10K this weekend. And I got one. I was secretly hoping for 55:00 (8:51 pace). I think I could have done it, except my hip started hurting after the first mile. I know the feeling of running at the limit of my legs and my lungs, but I had yet to experience running at the limit of an injury. I pushed through the pain and just kept my legs on treadmill mode. I managed a 57:47, which is an 11sec PR. At mile 4, I told myself if I could finish this race, I wasn’t going to run the half marathon next weekend, or maybe even the next one after that. Crazy things happen to your brain when you are in the middle of a race and in a massive ball of pain.

So what’s the plan to keep myself from going crazy:

1. MyFitnessPal. I’m logging every calorie. I tend to lose a couple of pounds after a training cycle. My appetite should be under more control since I won’t be running, so I should be able to drop this nagging weight.
2. PiYo. As much as I love sleeping in, I love getting up for an early morning workout even more. I’ve written out a plan for the next 8 weeks. And if I can run within these next 8 weeks, then maybe it’ll get me into a regular PiYo habit again!
3. Try cycling and the elliptical. In the last couple of weeks, cycling has made it hurt a tiny bit. I’m not sure if that was just residual pain from running the day before. After a full week off, I’ll try low impact cardio. I need to sweat!

The next race that I cannot miss is the Bill Snyder Highway Half on May 22nd. That gives me almost two months to heal. Fingers crossed…