Little Annoyances

I have been dealing with some sort of niggling injury since I was in college, it seems. Not to say I am always injured, because rarely does something stop me from training or even running, but I seem to have some type of pain most of the time. I would say it is because I am getting old, except that like I said, something has been going on since college. That darn hill in Shelby Forest -- Ballbuster, or Group Camp Hill, whatever you call it-- it is parallel to Jackson, and we used to run repeats on it weekly in cross country my senior year. That started the hamstring tendonitis, which still bothers me. I've gone through Achilles injuries, one so bad that I took off 6 weeks from running. And after a half marathon 5 years ago, I was sure I had a stress fracture in my femoral neck (but the x-rays were negative), which I have since self-diagnosed as a torn labrum. Lately it is the right side of my body in general. My calf gets tight and my hamstring bothers me some, sleeping on that side with an arm around a toddler makes it hurt more than the left, but the real problem seems to be my SI joint. Chiropractors will "fix" me temporarily, since I always seem to be out of alignment, and I get some relief, but a month or two later, it is back with a vengeance. I do not understand why they cannot give me some rehabilitative exercise to keep it all in alignment (ok, maybe I do -- $), so I try to do some of my own. Hopefully I am making some sort of slow progress strengthening the areas connected to it. In addition, I am doing lots of deep massage on my right quads. Not only is this supposed to help release the SI joint, but my Osgood-Schlatter's is acting up, and my tibial tubercle is quite large and painful. This is not a new issue either, but seems to be most relieved by manual therapy to those knotty quads.

Some days I go limping along for a while at the beginning of my runs, alternately digging a fist into my right glutes and doing weird looking drills for all the neighbors. Sometimes, kind of like when I was pregnant, I get a heaviness on that side, or even a sharp pain. As long as I don't look like a wounded animal in front of the wildlife on the trails.

OH! The wildlife on the trails... I feel somewhat satisfied to report that I had a bobcat sighting on my favorite trail a few days ago, in broad daylight (I don't run the trail in the dark when I can help it). He was only about 15 yards ahead of me, crossing the trail, and I looked up from the rocky footing in time to see him, all but his head, quietly disappear into the brush lining the path. His tail was most definitely bobbed, whew. My heart rate skyrocketed, and I stopped momentarily, then gathered myself and stomped by, not daring to look in the direction he had gone. I thought of getting a picture, but I really could not manage to get it together in those 2 seconds I saw him. So while there is no proof, I have now actually seen a medium sized predatory cat, and not just a track. As far as I know, bobcats are completely harmless to humans, but I seemed to have gotten more nervous about it than I was in New Mexico when I ran right up to a coyote who trotted along side of me for a bit. Now if I could just see one of those cougars who supposedly live out near Roland, just a few miles from Little Rock.

 Running on my trail

Anyway, I need to get rid of some of my annoying little pains, mostly so I can sit on the floor all day without my back yelling at me. And ride my road bike, which is set up quite differently than my tri bike, says my back. Massage seems like more of a luxury than a necessity, but I might break down and use that in place of a chiropractor session. It's cheaper and more enjoyable.

While on the subject of annoyances, I'll just make a quick tangent. Can we all come to an agreement not to use the word "amazing" anymore? Should we agree that if you're not "comfortable in your own skin" that you are never comfortable because you are always in your own skin? Could I just take a "guess" or make an "estimate" and not ever "guesstimate"? I mean, "it is what it is." Isn't it? Or is it sometimes not what it is? NO, it is always what it is, so let's stop saying it and being redundant! And, by the way, that many people do not love fall and pumpkin everything. Whew, it feels good to get that off my chest.

Now for things I do love about fall, these people, and the beautiful fall colors!

 

Whatever it is, it's obviously a little scary.

We sure love Bunny