My Running Story

Growing up I remember trying to figure out what I wanted to be “when I grew up”. You know if you wanted to be a dancer or a basketball player or whatever {the really important stuff 😉 {and at that age it was!} I have two sisters one was a great dancer and one was a basketball player. I inherited a little of each of their skills. I remember starting ballet though and knew it was not for me! My mom put us in a lot of extra curricular things as kids because we were home schooled. The stuff I stuck with most was clogging, piano, soccer and basketball {I did do modern dance, ballet, violin, and softball, but not for very long}. In high school I didn’t make the basketball team and thought my whole world was over. I had a cousin convince me to come run cross country and so I decided I would. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made in high school.. It was a great sport for me because I am competitive, but mostly with myself. It taught me self discipline, hard work and focus. It taught me about how much my body could do. I, in no way was and probably never will be, a very fast runner, but I loved it. I had a great bunch of friends and we had a great time running together.

At the beginning of my Jr. Year I started having a lot of pain in my hip. When I ran I felt a snap with every stride. It started to get really painful and it came to the point that I couldn’t even run without wanting to bawl it hurt so badly. My mom took me to a chiropractor where we found out I had scoliosis {not the really bad, I would need a rod kind}, but just bad enough to have my hips tilted, one being higher than the other and a slight curve, like a really elongated S spine. We were kind of shocked, and the chiropractor said it could have been caused by my braces that I had on for 7 years…Weird huh?? I also found out that that was causing the snapping in my hip or Tensor Fascia Lata you can read more about it here, but basically because of my slight scoliosis I have a tight Iliotibial band that passes over the outside of the hip over the large bump called the greater trochanter of the femur bone. It is not supposed to be tight but since my hips are tilted they were.
I did physical therapy and had chiropractor visits weekly and was able to get though my Senior year with minimal pain. After high school I stopped running for the most part, realizing I was kind of a social runner, and also didn’t want to be in more pain. I had a hard time wanting to get back into it. I did get my braces off and I did realize my hips started to not hurt as much once I was in college.
After I had kids I decided I wanted to run again. I ran in a few races and then after I had my 3^rd realized I missed it and started getting back into competitive running. To me it is so exciting to beat my time or have a goal and reach it. I ran in a 50 mile relay, and then started to do small triathlons {which I really like and hope to do more}. I don’t know if I have a desire to ever run a marathon. Maybe a half, but we’ll see. But I do love to run. I don’t run very far when I do, and I am not very fast at all, but I love to have that time to think and run and sweat and get in a good workout! I still have pain in my hips and knees when I run and I don’t feel very great the next day after a hard run. That is why I have decided to switch my shoes, and run in these…

And these…..

Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you why!!!