Milestones: Last week Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. On one hand it is hard to believe it has been TEN YEARS, on the other hand I can't remember what life was like before "us."

We met (when I was 19), hiking Mt. Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. So it was quite fitting to spend a few days at the base of the mountain at the Mount Washington Hotel and Resort. In a nutshell it was bliss.

Running Lately:

In a nutshell: discouraging. Prior to the marathon I knew I'd be making a physical therapy appointment to take a look at the tightness in my hamstring. I've been dealing with tightness and discomfort since last August, took three weeks off in December, did PT and started marathon training in January feeling pretty good. For the most part during my winter/spring training cycle I kept discomfort and tightness to a minimum with stretching, foam rolling, massage and my PT exercises. It was enough to get by, but I knew after the marathon I wanted to have it looked at (by a PT who specializes in running vs. my pelvic floor PT who specializes in women's health issues) to really get it resolved.

I thought I was proactive. Smart.

After the marathon I felt great, once the initial soreness resolved I noticed and increased tightness in my hamstring. Which wasn't alarming or painful. My PT appointment was made and on the schedule for June 9th.

Two weeks after the marathon I was feeling really good and on the last Saturday in May I headed out for an early morning run. The plan was 6 miles easy. I decided to try to play around with form and cadence. I know my running form is lacking: I over-stride, landing on my heal.

Major overstride, heel strike. If you drew a vector on the angle of my leg it would show that I'm actually propelling myself backward with this stride.

I know that if I don't change my stride I'll eventually plateau or be continually injured because my form is inefficient. If I want to get faster and increase the longevity of my running I need to change. Most running advice tells you not to play around with your stride too much or too quickly as it can result in injury because you're loading the body differently. But I figured now is a good time to play around and tweak my stride since my goal race is over and I don't have any major races planned until the fall.

So on that six mile run I played around with an increased cadence and quicker turnover. In retrospect it probably wasn't the smartest to play around with stuff on a longish run like that, perhaps a shorter run of 2-3 miles would be better. I felt fine on that run, but the next run on Sunday my right knee was in pain after about two miles of running. Kind of a twisting pain that wrapped around my knee and was pronounced with downhill running. I had to walk the final 1/2 mile home. Normally I can push through discomfort and do, but this was painful.

I attempted another run with the same result on Monday, rested Tuesday and ran on the track with no pain at all on Wednesday. But when it came time for the cool down run in the woods/trail it came back. Over the weekend I took four days off from running (still did cross training) in hopes that whatever "tweakiness" would resolve itself. I did a little test run on the treadmill yesterday morning, before PT, and it started to feel aggravated around the 2 mile mark.

Yesterdays PT appointment was incredibly helpful and revealed the source of my hamstring tightness: a weak glute on the left side. When I plant on the left side my hamstring "fires" first before the glute, when it should be the other way around. So there is undue stress on the hamstring and it is carrying most of the load on the left side--instead of the glute.

Unfortunately when he assessed my knee he couldn't duplicate the pain/discomfort I was feeling no matter how he manipulated it. So I don't have any answers there. Which is the thing that really feels like it is preventing me from running right now, the hamstring stuff isn't really painful.

Shortly after the general assessment I hoped on the treadmill for a video analysis of my stride. It didn't reveal anything new, but when someone picks apart your stride it can be a little discouraging. I walked away with a set of exercises and stretches, instructions to run if it was without pain.

I attempted a run this morning: felt great for the first two miles and then the knee discomfort/pain came back. Not as intense as it was a week ago, but it sure doesn't feel good. It's hard not to feel really, really discouraged.

If my stride is so bad why do I do this?

Should I even be running?

Maybe I need to find something else to do?

What is the point of running and training if I can't race?

I love to run. I do it for many reasons, but racing is one of the biggest ones. I love to race. If I can't train to race it's hard to see the point or running. (And I wonder why my four-year old is so dramatic;)

I have more PT appointments over the next three weeks so I'm hoping there will be some resolution to what is going on with my knee. But right now it is hard not to feel really discouraged.

I AM however, so thankful that this is happening now and not a month ago before the marathon. And I also know that I get discouraged (and slightly dramatic) about running injuries and feel like my running world is on the brink of utter destruction. Ha! I know that with proper attention to what my body needs the issues will resolve themselves.

Do you get dramatic about running injuries? Ever feel really discouraged about an injury? Do you love to race?

--Sarah

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