Since my problem, or injury began to bother me in April my running/athletic life has nothing but frustrating.  And when my running life is frustrating then everything seems to be that much more arduous, stressful, and a great feeling of ennui engulfs my entire being… (yes, my GRE words are coming to life)…

After Heps I took 5 weeks completely off, no running and minimal exercise in general.  Then when I arrived back in New Mexico after taking this month to drive across the country from New York, visiting family and friends along the way, I started trying to go on short runs to get back into shape.  But my body just wasn’t having it.  The pain was still there and even though it was not as bad as before, it still was inhibiting my progression.  

So around July 6th I went to a physical therapist who said my hips were badly out of alignment and that was the cause of my pain.  I proceeded to do exercises he gave me to strength and gradually build up from a walk to a slow jog.  But yet again the pain came back and just as bad as before.  At this I went to an orthopedic doctor who had me get an MRI (at this point it was already July 30th).  The MRI showed I had a stress fracture in my inferior remus, and I had to take another 6 weeks off running.  The MRI also showed I have a degenerated disk in my back, and even as my family was quite concerned the doctor brushed it off as something to be aware of but not to worry.

Anyways, during these next 6 weeks I biked and swam as the doctor said it was alright since it was non-impact, but looking back I probably should have just taken the time completely off as some of my research showed other runners saying that cross training just delayed the healing of their stress fractures to this same bone.  

After the rest period, I had Lenny (my high school coach) write out a schedule for me to follow for getting back into shape.  Not too fast, but gradually building.  At first, things went well, my first 10 min. jog on Sept. 6th had no real pain.  The doctor said a little pain would be normal (as others have said about stress fractures), but if it gets worse or lasts more then a day then something has to change.  

Since that first jog I gradually increased the amount of time I was running, but it seemed the pain that would start just after I started running/jogging was also gradually increasing.  

Today is Sept. 27th and I just got back from trying to do a 20 min. jog and was only able to do 6:30 before stopping.  FRUSTRATION!!!!

One of my high school friends that is now a trainer says that it could be tendinitis in my hamstring from taking so much time off and now trying to run again.  She says I need to do exercises to strengthen it and do pool running that is non-impact.  I will see her in a couple days to get advice.  But for now I am stuck with this voracious desire to run and no possibility of getting close to a decent workout anytime soon.

At this point I think there are three possibilities:

1- the stress fracture is not healed – which sucks because i have taken off SO much time off that it should be.

2- it is muscular, and possibly tendinitis from not running in so long- which sucks because I can’t get treatment or see a doctor as much as I might need to because it’s so bloody expensive.