Hurricane Weekend and Good News!

We made it back from NC last night. Contrary to the hype on TV, our flights were smooth and on time. I’ll admit the weather got hairy on Saturday: The wind began howling in the wee hours Saturday morning and most of the day was rainy and blustery but we were far enough inland to not be in any danger.

Other than the family event that brought us to NC in the first place, my goals for this weekend were as follows:

Survive Hurricane Irene check
Survive Hurricane MIL ’nuff said check
Survive the infamous family photograph check

Load up on coffee. check. My all-time favorite coffee comes from A Southern Season in Chapel Hill NC.
Try not to obsess over the hip and see my life as a runner flash before me. Fail
and last but not least:

Rest. The. Ornery. Hip. Check
This racehorse, pack mule old nag felt so ready to run but the crappy weather and a schedule packed with family obligations helped me resist that urge. I ran 6 Garmin-free miles last week before we left, with the same dull but not unbearable hip pain. Instead I limited my workouts to brief hotel room pushups/squats/corework.

Fast-forward to today
I found a Sports Physical Therapist and called for an appointment only to find out I need a prescription from my doctor, who is on vacay then booked solid thru September. I swear it can’t be easy can it?

So, since this was the first day EVER that both kiddos were in school ALL DAY am I in heaven?, I decided to take a stab at the 15-mile long run I should have done in NC, poised to pull the plug if the hip did not cooperate. Ornery hip (let’s call it OH for short) felt fine the first couple of miles, then ached faintly for the next couple. After 4 miles though, the unthinkable happened:
THE PAIN SUBSIDED!
I won’t lie, the run was far from spectacular. It was leaden and felt way harder than it should have. Amazing isn’t it, how quickly running fitness fades away? But I was RUNNING and so grateful for that! Afraid to overdo (not to mention it was getting hot as hell), I stopped after 10 miles and rode 13 more on the bike so overall the workout came up short by training standards, but still, something is better than nothing.

Going forward, OH is still on notice, and I’m trying to stay positive and not agonize over whether my hodgepodge training will be enough to pull off a marathon on October 2. Only time will tell.