Ultraconservative

I saw my orthopedist the day after my most recent MRI, just as a follow up for my paranoid hip pain, and he said everything was fine! In fact, he told me that, from his standpoint, I could run ... and even added, "Marine Corps Marathon in October!"

(I'm already registered for the Atlantic City Half Marathon instead!)

My orthopedist's latest clearance for me to run is amazing news, and I am so thrilled, happy, and thankful that I am ok.

But I am choosing to be ultra-conservative. I did not like being injured. I did not like ambulating on crutches, cane, and scooter, and having trouble even preparing a bowl of cereal in the morning, and was annoyed at working all day on crutches, being stopped every 5 minutes by someone asking for updates and offering unsolicited advice. I hated, hated, HATED that anxious feeling I had the other day when I didn't know what my pain was from.

So now, instead of focusing what I do not want, I will concentrate for what I do want. I want, and I am, healthy. I want to feel good. I want to enjoy exercise without fear of injury or pain. I want to run the Goofy Challenge.

So to do that, I am limiting my exercise to walking and shuffling. That night, after my orthopedist appointment, I went on the treadmill for W3D2 and per the advice I heard from Jeff Galloway on a recent episode of the Mickey Miles Podcast, I did and ultraconservative 5 sec run (shuffle) : 55 sec walk ratio for 45 min or so. My 5 seconds of running was shuffling -- short strides, keeping feet low to the ground, landing under my body, and light touch. Light touch. Light touch. I may use that as my new mantra.

This morning, for my Week 3 Day 3 long run, I went to the Brick Reservoir (with its pretty 1.6 mile loop around the water), with my Hoka One One Bondi B's, and slipped in my old Road Runner Sports inserts, to try them out again and to keep my feet aligned. I did 3 miles in 48:05:93, a 16:12 pace with a conservative 15 sec: 45 sec ratio. Per Galloway, 15:45 corresponds to a 17 minute pace. Again, I'm amazed at the accuracy of this!  Yes, a humble cry from my 7:40 pace in last year's Ocean Medical Center 5k, but I'm a different person now.

(credit to Brick Municipal Authority for the pics)

Sure, the other runners this morning blew past me, and all were continuous runners, as I had been. But I felt great. I didn't care, I was out there, walking and shuffling on my own, and tried to go on the grass as much as I could, with no pain.

I will continue to be this conservative, as it feels great, until I see my endocrinologist in a couple of weeks. We will go over the most recent set of labs I had done yesterday (BMP, Vitamin D, serum osteocalcim, and urine NTP). And this time, I will listen to him.