This week has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster regarding my training. A friend who was to run the marathon with me got injured and can no longer train. He will not be running the marathon in June. The good news is he is still planning on coming down to cheer me on before / during the race in San Diego.

The other bad news is that I am now injured. After my long run Saturday (13 miles) in Fulton, I noticed pain in my groin on the left side. If I was just sitting around it did not hurt but I was walking with a limp and running was downright painful. Of course the leg felt better on Tuesday so I decided that a fast 7 mile run was a great idea which was not very smart. I felt great after the Tuesday run but woke up in pain on Wednesday morning with a pronounced limp.



I took the day off from training on Wednesday and went to see the good people at AthletiCo on Thursday after work. AtheltiCo specializes in rehabilitation, fitness, performance (at least that is what their business cards say) and gave me a screening.

The physical therapist that helped me did a great job trying to figure out exactly what my injury was, exercises to strengthen my core to help the problem, and a referral to see an orthopedic doctor (who I’m scheduled to see on Tuesday).

The folks at AthletiCo seem to think I have an impingement on the bursa contained in the ligaments of my left leg where the femur meets the pelvis. This problem was likely caused by my flat or ‘pancake’ left foot which pushes my left leg in as I run and in turn rubs the bursa causing pain when I move. Before yesterday I had no idea what the hell ‘bursa’ was but evidentially it is a fluid filled sac that acts as a sort of ‘ball bearing’ for the leg’s ball-and-socket joint.

The good news is ‘my boys’ are fine and don’t hurt (let’s leave it at that) but the bad news is I’ll need to train with some low or no impact cardio like the elliptical, Stairmaster, or stationary bike for a while. Last night I spent an hour and 20 minutes on the elliptical which works out to 7 miles or so. I was not so happy about the 11+ minute pace but I guess I’ll have to get used to spending more time on that sucker than on the treadmill.

The elliptical trainer - my sworn enemy

My appointment on Tuesday with the doctor will give me a better idea of how I should proceed. Thankfully both the physical therapist who helped me and this doc are both runners so they have some experience in this area to add to their training advice. The big thing is to rule out stress fractures or any tearing of tissue.

While I’m not really supposed to run before my appointment, I will still be participating in the Shamrock Shuffle this Sunday – hopefully I can walk normally (unlike this guy) on Monday morning!

Also thought I'd share an article about running blogs (like this one) from Runner's World...