Phew! I was a little worried I was going to offend someone with parts of that post yesterday. Maybe I did and they refrained from commenting. I’m sorry about that if I did offend you.
Christina, let me add to the pet peeves you mentioned. I was trying to stay on track with running etiquette so I failed to mention cars in my post. But, speaking of cars and pet peeves, I have two big ones. The first concerns driving with cell phones attached to the ear. I’m extremely leery of drivers who are talking on a phone. I don’t even know how they can possibly concentrate on driving, much less share the roads with bikers, runners and walkers.
My second concern is with drivers who think they own the road and feel that runners do not belong there. By law we (runners) are allowed on the roads except where marked otherwise. Yet, some drivers feel we should not be there at all and will go as far as swerving to try to hit us. This has happened to me on more than one occasion, this has happened to people I know. There is this one guy I know whose name is Bob, and we call car run-ins “getting bobbed” since he has been hit or nearly hit many times. Runners have died because of run ins with cars. I’m not sure it will ever end and I am a huge advocate of pathed paths alongside roadways for people who walk, run, bike, etc. I have lived in Eugene, OR where they have over 50 miles of pathways. I’ve seen it elsewhere such as along Route 70 in Colorado, outside of Vail. Wouldn’t it be great if ALL cities and towns started building these?
Yesterday was a rest day for me and I am taking one today as well. I found a chiropractor and called first thing Monday morning, I had a 10 am appointment the same day. This guy was great and I would seriously recommend him to anyone in my area who is in need of some chiropractic care. His name is Stuart Cohen over on 19th Street. He’s a fitness guy and after a little adjustment and manipulation suggested that instead of heat I should be icing my back. He feels the issues are with my SI joint (sacroiliac) and the left hip flexor issue that I’ve been having for the past two months is also a result of this. He also said that he isn’t going to tell me not to run. I’m to use my own good judgement. Just be sure to ice afterward. I go back on Thursday morning.
Interestingly, I looked up SI joint and found a wealth of information. Yep, it’s classic SI Joint Syndrome. It can be easily mistaken with sciatica and one of the classic symptoms is trouble rolling over in bed at night. Well, it’s no surprise that when I told the chiropractor that I had been having trouble rolling over in bed at night for about 3 weeks prior to my visit to his office he kind of smiled and shook his head.
Classic symptoms are difficulty turning over in bed, struggling to put on shoes and socks and pain getting your legs in and out of the car. (copied from http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net)
The SI joint is where the tailbone and the hip bone connects. Click the image to enlarge.
I found some strengthening exercises for the SI joint which I will begin once the inflammation goes down and things start feeling better.
(click to enlarge)
My hip/back does feel a bit better than it did yesterday. More ibuprofen, more icing and more resting. I can’t wait to head back to the chiropractor on Thursday. Depending on how things feel I may try a short run tomorrow. Remember folks, listen to your body.
