Go Or No Go???

Yesterday was a good bike day...much better than Sunday as far as comfort goes. Although later on I had a nagging feeling in my butt cheek again. Maybe it's my office seat???

This morning I did the swim/run combo. An hour at the pool working on some speed, then 1.5 hours for the run.

Swimming felt pretty good, but I think it's time to renew my inhaler prescription. I don't usually use it during the winter, but with spring (hopefully) happening I'm feeling a bit more congested. Then again that could have been due to the chemicals that I assume were eminating from the back room of the pool. I could smell them everytime I swam to the one end and was wondering if something might be secretly eating away my lungs...

After my swim I guzzled a green shake down, which left my teeth with green bits and a haze of pink from the berries. A very nice look I might say. Then headed out. Today was going to be the big test of the hip. Is it strong enough to run the half marathon on the 26th???

The first few steps were iffy...but it'd been like that on other runs, then I'd be fine. I am a true endurance girl in that I always feel better the longer I go. So I kept running.

I loved being outside. It was quite peaceful. The ice on the river is all gone and I could hear the water running through the creeks as they were unfrozen now too.

At about the 25 minute mark the green smoothie I drank started to do it's thing. I forgot that it does it's thing or perhaps I would not have ingested it before my run... I knew there was a portapotty near the river so headed for that. Very unfortunately someone had tipped it over at one point, then it had been righted; however the contents that had splooshed around inside were still stuck on the wall. Ew. Now here's a funny tidbit, the sight and smell of that did nothing for my gag reflex; however one wee piece of hair, floating in a pool, will have me retasting my brekkie...go figure.

I decided I'd have to run to the rec centre to use their loo. That would put me past the halfway mark, but I'd just run more of a straight line on the way home rather than meandering through the trails.

The whole time I was running I was focussed on my glutes/hip area. At about the 43 minute mark I started feeling it. Perhaps it will go away, I thought. Maybe I just need to run a little more mid soul, I pondered. I kept this type of thinking going till I got to the rec centre.

On the way back it was obvious. My glute was starting to bug me. I kept thinking, well, at least it's not the same pain as before. So things must be getting better!

I was wavering...I feel good I can race - I don't feel good I can't race. I can race. I can't race. There the pain is gone. See. I can race. Shite, it's back, I can't race. Go or No Go?? That was the question. I had that thought pattern for the last bit of my run.

Towards the very end I was getting the familiar pain. This was not good. I still managed to run up the bonus hill. I'm just stubborn that way.

During the last bit of my run I said to myself, 'Suse. You need to look at the big picture. You have a half Ironman and two Ironmans to race this year. If you race this half marathon you are going to blow your hip and take many steps backwards, cause you always blow your hip on the last hill of this race. How about we let this one go, and focus on the other races and making sure you are strong enough for that.'

So that's it. I'm not going to run the half marathon. I'm kind of bummed about it because it's a brilliant race. It's quite hilly at the end. In fact, there is one mean steep hill at the 15 km mark, then you run up to the finish after that. Last year my time was 2:02. I've never broken the 2 hour mark and was seriously thinking I could this year. But that was if I had a good hip. See, my hip always goes on me with about 4 km left in that race. If it is already hurting on an easy run at the 43 minute mark, then there is no way I could reach my goal. I could run it at a Granny pace just for fun - but I wouldn't be happy doing that.

What will make me happy though is going out there and cheering on my friends who are racing! So that's what I'll do instead. The race will still be here next year and maybe that's when I'll break the 2 hour mark!

Oh, on a different topic, I ran right after my swim and apparantly that does something funny to braid. Perhaps it was the chlorine still in my hair? Or all the happy happy bounce bounce of my briad as I ran? Who knows. But this is what it looked like after my run...

I am so thankful for hair conditioner right now...

Peace out my glorious friends.