dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran on the indoor track this morning as I had my running class run a 2400m fitness test (I just called it 1.5 miles when I explained it to the class).  After they were done I just stayed at the track and ran there rather than running outside.  I switched directions every so often, and ran in the outside lanes when running backwards.  As a result I still had to approximate the distance despite running on a track.  Approximate total of 8 miles in 59:00.  The very last lap that I ran I decided to run fast while still maintaining control (i.e. not hurting myself).  I ended up running 300m in 0:56 (5:00 pace).

General takeaways from today:   My leg and back still hurt... darn, they were feeling a lot better yesterday.  At first, running counterclockwise around the track (the way you are supposed to run) hurt more than running clockwise around the track.  Once I got used to the turns my back and quad felt more achy than anything (less pain than normal... yay).  The discomfort I was feeling was largely contained to the area of the inguinal ligament, and the iliac crest as it radiated upward towards the low back (this is fairly normal for me, but generally the pain radiates farther down into my leg, and farther up into my back).  5:00 pace felt easier than i thought it would, and I was surprised to see 0:56 for 300m, I was expecting 0:58-0:60 based on effort.

I didn't post any pictures last week, so here are a few random pictures from the last few days:

Anita sleeping.  She fell asleep on the couch last night (while still wearing her church dress) and we just left her there.  This is what I saw when I got up this morning.

Kamran finally lost his belly button scab!  It is gross, but his scab was much bigger than our other kids' scabs so I took a picture.

Kimia and I started a competition of sorts, the details of which will remain unwritten, however I am going to post our score to my blog so that I can remember.

Following day 1:  Kimia - 2, Jeff - 1

I ran 8 miles this morning in 1:01:47.  My back felt very sensitive this morning, almost like one bad step would cause it so seize up, so I was very careful not to make any sudden twists or turns.  Luckily, there was not much pain, and when I was able to relax more there was less discomfort.  I am starting to feel like my hamstrings are becoming more flexible as well, so hopefully this helps decrease pain over the long term (I say this while working under the assumption that I have an anterior tilt to my pelvis, and that working towards greater flexibility will help keep my pelvis in a more neutral position).

Here are a few more pictures of my little people:

Kamran hanging out

Anita spending time with her baby brother.  She really loves to hold him and cuddle with him too!

Continuing the competition that Kimia and I are having...

Total score after day 2:  Kimia - 3, Jeff - 2

I misjudged how much I would run with my running class today, so I ended up running more than planned as I ran the first part of my workout before class today rather than after like I normally do, and also ran home afterwards so that Kimia could go to the hospital (more on that later).  I left the house this morning, and ran about 4.75 miles before class in just over 37 minutes.  During class I was purposefully running much slower than normal trying to run a shorter distance (I go back and forth to check on students, so running slower does actually help me run less), however the unfortunately did not work very well and I still ended up running about 4 miles in class.  After class was over I ran home an additional 1.5 miles for a grand total of 10.25 miles with a total time of about 1:24:00.  So, it was more than planned, but I felt decent, so it was not a big deal.  In fact, I felt the least amount of pain that I have felt on any given day since I started running again after getting mono in July.

Now, back to Kimia.  She started bleeding again while my mom was visiting at the beginning of October (she had previously stopped bleeding completely).  We weren't sure why, but the bleeding was similar to a period so we were not too concerned (we even thought that maybe her period had started again earlier than usual).  However, over the last few days the bleeding has progressively increased, and last night Kimia passed a number of rather large clots.  She ended up going into the ER late in the evening, and she found out that a piece of her placenta is still embedded in her uterus.  She had to go into the hospital this morning to have it removed.  Hopefully everything goes well and she is able to leave the hospital as soon as she wakes up.

Total score:  Kimia - 4, Jeff - 3

I ran 8 miles this morning in just under 1:01:00.  I ran on the indoor track because I had a student that needed to make up her fitness test.  I ran a couple miles before she showed up, I ran a couple more while she was doing the fitness test, and I ran my last few miles after she left.  My back was a little sore this morning because Anita was late for the bus and I was running while holding her in my arms.  This caused a little bit of soreness while running, but overall my back felt okay.

On a side note, Kimia seemed to be feeling a lot better today.  After the procedure yesterday she threw up and was loopy for a while because despite her requests they gave her some strong pain meds.  This morning after she got a full night of sleep she seemed to be doing a lot better.

In an effort to keep things quiet in the house last night, I took the kids out so that they could have some fun.  Here are a couple pictures of the kids trying on hats at the store.

Total score after day # 4:  Kimia - 4, Jeff -4

I ran 8 miles this morning, running a little over 5 miles with my running class, and then running the rest of the run on my own.  Total time of 1:01:12.  Today was the last day for the running class, so I will be running alone on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from here on out.

I was not planning to run anything fast today, but as I was finishing the run with my class one of the students who had gone out further than the rest of the class (today's run was a timed out and back) realized that he needed to speed up in order to finish in 40 minutes.  As a result he sped up to sub 6:00 pace for the last mile or so, and I ended up running the last mile with him.  My leg felt kind of sore and tight when I sped up with my student, so when I ran on my own I ran another half mile fast to see if the tightness was just a result of speeding up quickly or if it was something else.  I made a point of speeding up gradually (1st quarter in 88, second quarter in 82), and sure enough I did not notice the tightness that I noticed earlier, despite running sub 5:30 pace for the second quarter.

I also noticed when warming up with my class that if I slide to my left I feel some pain in my quad, lower back, and along the iliac crest.  This further reinforces my belief that my pelvic alignment is off.  I also notice a clicking in my hips when I extend my legs from a prone position, or if I perform hip adduction/abduction exercises.  More and more, the question for me is to ask myself how long it will take before I stop experimenting and finally cave and see a physical therapist?

Total score:  Kimia - 6, Jeff - 6

I ran 10 miles today in 1:13:08.  I didn't look at my watch until I was 3 miles into the run, and I had averaged about 7:30 pace up until that point.  I then ran 4 miles in 7:17, 7:34, 7:31, and 7:25.  I hit the 5 mile mark in 37:19.  I slowed down a little (although not much), between the 7 and 9 mile markers due to a fair amount of uphill running, making it to 9 miles in 1:07:28.  I had decided partway into the run to run the last mile fast just as a test of how my back and leg were feeling.  I ended up running the last mile in 5:40, which all things considered is not half bad (lots of hills and turns during this mile).  The only time my back complained during this mile was during a very short but steep downhill section, while my quad felt pretty good for pretty much the whole thing as well.  Another positive that I will take away from the run today is that I had to keep consciously making an effort to slow down.

Total score:  Kimia - 9, Jeff - 7