I'm awesome; it's the hills that suck

I've been reluctant to blog a lot lately - my awesome new doctor, though he fixed my foot, has been unable to fix my hip. So I've had an xray (looked fine) and am having an MRI in a couple weeks. Meanwhile, I'm paranoid about all the worst case scenarios, and feel really down about my running prospects this season. Last year was so spectacular that I feared I'd reached my peak, and so far this season has done nothing to dispell that.

Anyway, the doctor didn't tell me not to run, and truth be told my pain level has been pretty constant for the past year and a half, so I don't think I'm making it worse. In the absence of a diagnosis or treatment plan, I'm just trucking along.

This year's program is in a new location, since the UVa track is under construction. I'm hoping that it will be done soon and that the powers that be will continue to allow it to be used by the community, because the new location sucks. The high school track is fine, though it's just 6 lanes of asphalt, instead of 8 lanes of marshmallows. The surrounding neighborhoods are lovely - quiet, wooded streets and beautiful homes. But the hills are outrageous.

Yeah. So, not in the greatest shape, paranoid, and demotivated me is not having the best time on the Saturday runs. Thankfully, I have a great running buddy and the group in general has been fantastic.  I'll spend 5 miles kvetching to the crew, and then as soon as we're back to the parking lot, I'm all "Hey, that wasn't so bad!!" Running in a group is the only way I can do this.

Next up - the annual Turkey Trot, and then another weekend of sucking wind on crazy hills.