Physical Therapy

While training for my first half marathon, I started having a lot of issues with my right hip and leg.  I battled through it for a couple of my long runs, but soon decided that something was wrong and I needed to get it checked out.  It seems that my scoliosis (more on this later) has done a number on my hips.  They are so twisted and tilted that it shouldn't be a surprise to find out that all my running was starting to cause some trouble.

I went to see the Sports Medicine doc and he decided to put me into physical therapy.  At this point, I was 3 weeks from the race and my training had already taken a serious hit.  My only hope of making it through the race was to dive into therapy and hope for the best.

When race day came around, I knew that I had made some improvements, but I was still a long way off from being "normal".  (I say this in quotes because I'm pretty sure I will never have a normal, healthy runner's body.)  I made it through the race, but it was definitely painful and I had to take more walking breaks that I would have liked.

I'm still in PT, and I just had my first post-race session last night.  The good news is the race didn't do any major damage, but I'm definitely having some flare-ups because of it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will keep seeing more and more improvement and I will eventually get to a point where I can run pain free.  Oh, that day will be amazing....