Determination and small dreams

It's official. I'm addicted. I am back on the treadmill, my little dream of doing some sort of organized run still alive. My husband continues to inspire me with his run times and marathons, and in some ways, I hope to inspire him by overcoming my "chains" and doing something I didn't think I'd have the strength, stamina, or drive to do ever again...try a 5k. Well, I'm realistic and I know a 5k probably isn't going to happen so I've set my sights on a 1 mile "Fun Run". I'm letting the hubby pick the run, and we'll do it together. The plan is for this fall, probably mid to late October. Actually setting a date/run makes me more determined and encouraged to keep up on my training.
So, with that being said, Tuesday I was jogging and kept thinking "I'll just keep going til I hit a quarter mile" then "I can do half a mile", then next thing I know I've completed a whole mile without stopping! I surprised myself and was pretty pleased. This I know I can do. I'll keep at it and build up my endurance because I don't want to lose any ground I'm gaining for this run. If you have gimpy hips, you know what I'm talking about! Letting even just a few days go by with no activity can set you back to square one.

So how are the hips doing with this? At just over 1.5 years out, left is good, not too many complaints, some popping here and there. At just over a year out, right is status quo, it hurts a lot. It's crunchy and achy. It's just never gotten better. That's why we're scoping in November. Things I do to help my hips/legs through the bad days: I ice and heat a lot, I sleep with a heat pad on my legs, I use Salonpas patches on my quads and just below my knee caps and I elevate my legs as much as I can. I also have knee braces and orthotics for my shoes, but I don't feel the inserts really help. I like to use Bio Freeze gel too and massage that into my legs. That's a nice treat. What's even nicer is getting my hubby to do it, but he hates the smell.

I thought that my hips and miserable malalignment would keep me from being able to run, but my pcp put me on a new pain med a few weeks ago and since the first week went by on it, I've felt like a new lease on life! It has really made a difference on my pain quality, sleep quality, and just overall life quality. This is the same medicine my neuro-sleep doctor was going to put me on because of severe restless leg syndrome/pain, so I am in a win/win situation. This medicine makes my pain tolerable and gives me a glimpse of the life I can have once everything is fixed. It's nice! It's not something I want to be on for a long time though. But I think it's the bridge to getting where I need to be.