Wonky stride update and a shiny new PR!

On Friday I finally bit the bullet and went saw a physician for my left leg "issue". I think my co-worker was tired of hearing about my leg not getting better. She emailed a great physician who is normally booked out, but he was willing to fit me into his Friday morning schedule. It's nice working at a clinic sometimes where you know all of the providers so well!

I was pretty nervous going into the appointment. Mostly afraid he was going to say I couldn't run Eugene next month. That would be a devastating blow. I told him that I started noticing my stride was off a couple of weeks after CIM and how it felt like I was dragging my left leg. I mentioned I had been seeing my chiropractor on a regular basis since the end of January, but that I was still experiencing the "leg dragging" every once in a while. It doesn't hurt, it just feels off and uncomfortable. Wonky is a good term for it. :-)

He asked me a bunch of questions and then did a quick examination of my left and right leg reflexes. His conclusion is that I have a compressed nerve that is causing the lazy leg or "leg dragging". He wants me to have a gait analysis completed at PT and then he has referred me to a neurologist to have a nerve conduction study done. Once I have the study done with a neuro consult then hopefully that will confirm the original diagnosis so that I can finally start the process of getting better. He doesn't seem to think I will have an answer by Eugene which is lame, however, he said that I won't make it worse by running. So....I can still run as long as the wonky stride doesn't bother me too much. YAY!!!! In the mean time I am stretching every opportunity I can get and will be seeing my chiropractor on a regular basis. With less than 5 weeks until Eugene I really need to stay in 1 piece. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to run a sold race next month.

Has anyone experienced a compressed nerve before?????

Moving on....

Since I missed two key speed workouts last week I texted my coach and asked him if he thought I should do a 5 mile race on Saturday. He didn't have a problem with it and said as long as I felt good when I woke up to go for it. YAY! I haven't had a race in what seems like forever so I was really excited.

I got signed up at the race by 9 am and the race didn't start until 10 am. I wanted to get a good warm up in to see how my leg felt AND because I was freaking out about missing so many miles during the week. Got in a solid 3 miles and still had plenty of time to stretch really good. I was pretty chilly, but not too bad. I was thankful that I was wearing my arm sleeves because they really help to keep me warm.

Getting ready to head to the start 

Warmed up and ready to race!

I have never run the Rapid Rabbit before so I didn't know where the course was or how many people would be there. I was surprised at the large number that turned out. 

The race started and of course everyone sprinted off in front of me. My coach had told me to start out a 6:40 pace and then see how I felt from there. I couldn't believe how many people dusted me in the first 400 meters, but I knew that those dum dums would be dying soon. I love picking people off that start too fast- they make for good road kills. Sure enough even before the 1 mile mark I had already passed several of them. 

The first couple of miles went between a country road and housing development- mostly flat with rolling hills. I ran behind this 12 yo (he might have been older?) until about the 2.5 mile mark. That kid was driving me crazy! He was wearing a zippered sweatshirt that wasn't zipped and was flapping around everywhere. I was so glad to finally get by him (the little twerp kept speeding up on my first couple of attempts to pass him). I was going to be ticked if he beat me, LOL. 

I passed another guy about mile 3.5. I wasn't sure if I was going to catch up because I could feel myself fading at that point. He told me good job and then told me I could catch the guy in front of us. Unfortunately that guy was like 5 blocks in front of us and I didn't think I could make up that kind of distance. The last 1.5 miles were flat with a gradual uphill. It was a very b-o-r-i-n-g stretch, but I was focused on the guy in front of me. With 1 mile left we became inter mixed with the 3 mile race participants so I lost sight of "my guy" for a while. I was digging pretty dip, but wasn't paying attention to my garmin. I knew that I had less than a 1500 meters left and I could see where the finish area was. I found another gear and caught up to "my guy" and I PASSED him!!! I was so happy that I caught him, I couldn't help but smile. I looked done at garmin and realized I was going to PR!!! :-)

Almost done...

Just a little further...

Official finishing time-- 33:12 (6:38 pace)

That is a 5 mile PR by 48 seconds!!!!!!

I was thrilled with my shiny new PR, but more thrilled that I didn't experience any issue with my leg. HOORAY!!!!

--Tasha