One Foot in Front of the Other....

Yesterday I took my first run in a long time.  I have been a runner for a number of years now and, while I am certainly never going to win any races, I take great satisfaction in besting my own race times.  I also find running to be therapeutic.  For me, there is nothing like heading out the door, breathing in the fresh air and getting lost in some great tunes.  I really do love it.

I had a great summer with running and was signed up to do the Maine half Marathon.  I was running faster than I had in years and was excited that I was on pace to clock in under 2 hours (this has always been a goal of mine!).  Then, one morning in September out of the blue I woke up with terrible hip pain.  I iced, put heat on it, rested, but simply couldn't shake it.  I finally visited my doctor who thought it may be bursitis and I was sent off to a physical therapist who said it was an overuse injury.  I wasn't comfortable with either one of those diagnoses because I'd had bursitis before and this felt different and, because I have had overuse injuries before, I am pretty conservative about adding miles, etc.  After a couple more weeks of discomfort and staying off my leg, for the most part, I had a recurrence of my ulcerative colitis.

 If you don't know, "UC" is a disease that affects your digestive system and causes inflammation which in turn creates a host of unpleasant symptoms.  I had been in remission from this for almost 8 months so this was a blow for sure.  However, I learned that joint pain and joint inflammation are very common with UC and I just had not experienced that particular side effect before. 

I am happy to say that I am slowly but surely making my way back into remission from my UC.  I took my first run in nearly 2 months yesterday and I felt great.  I didn't go far (I probably couldn't have!!) but to be out there again gave me a clearer heard and made me feel like "me".

I allowed myself 2 miles and next time I might allow for a little more.  I will slowly make my way back to where I was and, when I get there again, I will be so grateful that I was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I wasn't able to run the Maine Half Marathon last month because of my illness and loss of training time but the race director graciously allowed me to defer my entry until the 2020 race.  I will be ready for it!

Do you run? What do you love about it?