Krzyrunner

So remember yesterday when I mentioned the crazy runner inside of me who rears her ugly head in the face of injury and forces me to keep running? Well, she was back with a vengeance last night (probably in response to me bad mouthing her on my blog), and I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into exactly what I'm dealing with here.

Last night after work, I went to the gym with the intention of doing an easy workout on the arc trainer- something to just get my legs moving but hopefully not aggravate my hip further. I went and got changed and came back upstairs to the workout area to find complete and total mayhem all around me (I hate New Year's resolutions for this very reason). Every single machine, even the lone arc trainer, which no one but me ever uses, was occupied. With the exception, of course, of one treadmill. I told myself that I could get on the treadmill, which was conveniently located right next to the arc trainer, and do a gentle jog until the arc trainer freed up. It seemed harmless enough, so I hopped on and started to jog. For the first 20 or so strides, I was in a lot of pain, but as my hip loosened up, I started to feel really good. About half a mile into my jog, I noticed the girl starting to get off of the arc trainer... and that's when it happened. The crazy runner inside of me (we'll call her, Krzyrunner- clever, I know) came out.

Krzyrunner: You can't get off the treadmill now, you've only run half a mile. You should at least finish a full mile to make it worth it.

Me: I don't know. I mean, I just wrote a blog all about taking care of yourself and not running through pain. I should probably stop running...

Krzyrunner: Don't be a baby! Do you feel any pain?? I certainly don't, and we share a body. Come on... one mile never hurt anyone...

Me: Ok, just ONE MILE. I'll just run this mile and then hop on the arc trainer.

So, I kept running. And, of course, someone else got on the arc trainer with about one tenth of a mile to go.

Krzyrunner: (evil cackle) Well, now that you're stuck on the treadmill why don't you at least make a workout of it. No sense in just jogging the whole time.

Me: I don't know, I don't want to mess up my hip anymore than I already have.

Krzyrunner: I don't feel anything wrong with our hip! It feels fine- let's do some mile repeats!

She was right, my hip was feeling remarkably good.

Me: Ok, I'll just do a couple of miles at a faster pace- it won't hurt anything.

So, I did. I ran a second mile, and a third... and a fourth and a fifth. And I felt good, and I felt strong the whole time. But as the mile counter crept up towards 5.5 miles, my arm serendipitously knocked my ipod off the treadmill and it went flying off the belt behind me. I paused the treadmill and jumped off to grab it, only to feel a surge of pain in my hip flexor. Crap.

I grabbed my ipod, and at the urging of Krzyrunner ("only a mile and a half to go and you can consider this a worthwhile workout- don't wimp out now!") I hopped back on the treadmill. After a few painful and creaky steps, I felt my hip warm back up again and the pain melted away. But then, suddenly it occurred to me that this was just not normal (no, not the conversation with a non-existant person in my mind part... the hurting part) and I hit the STOP button. Krzyrunner was screaming at me in my head, but I knew that it would be better for me to just get on the arc trainer (which was finally unoccupied) and finish up my workout there. And I did. And I felt pretty good once I was done.

So, that's what goes on in my head when I'm fighting the urge to run even when I know I'm not supposed to (it's pretty frightening, right?) Obviously, Krzyrunner doesn't have to be all that persuasive to get me to run, because, as much as I hate to admit it, I want to be running. But, I have to keep reminding myself (and Krzyrunner) that I really want to be running in APRIL. And at the rate I'm going, I may not make it that long. So here's hoping Krzy cooperates from now on and I can get this injury cleared up. There's a long road of training ahead, and if I can take care of this now, then there will be plenty of miles that she and I can run together in the future.