Pain in the Butt

I recently started running again. 

So, in addition to a couple days of boot camp and my Friday bike rides to work I decided to start running a couple days a week. Running in the fall and winter in Austin is way more enjoyable then running in 110 degree heat in the summer. I'd rather freeze any day than die of a heat stroke. So, naturally a couple days of good runs have turned into "Maybe I should do another race." 

What does this mean? Well, I currently have a plane ticket to Phoenix in January {it was a super deal and couldn't pass it up}. So, I'm either talking a weekend vacation to the desert in January or I'm running the Rock n' Roll half marathon. We won't talk about the longer race I'm considering later in the spring.

At some point last week I started to develop this slight pain in my butt/hip. It didn't really bother me working out or running, only while sitting at my desk at work or in the car. It was a dull annoying pain. After having a history of IT band issues, I immediately started the usual, ice, foam roll, stretch and Google search diagnosis. My current self-diagnosis is piriformis syndrome.  Or a pain in the butt.

So, rather than going to boot camp on Thursday I did some easy yoga to try and stretch out my hip/butt and started rolling on a tennis ball {a Google treatment find} Well, the pain in the butt showed up a little during my boot camp on Saturday morning. I didn't make it any better by trying to run 5 miles later in the morning. Talk about the worst 5 mile run ever {not necessarily because of the pain, which there was some, but because I started cramping from to eating too much before. Rookie mistake}With more ice, more stretching, and more rolling I decided I needed new shoes. {I always wait too long to replace them...}

Sunday afternoon Brandon and I rode our bikes to the Texas Running Company downtown to get fitted for some new kicks. After doing a gait analysis on film, Brian {My sales dude. We are practically BFF's now. He runs Track and Cross Country for UT. He's kinda a big deal. At least in my mind he is} brought out a variety of brands that fit my {poor} running style. The first pair he had me try on were some Nike's. I tried to nicely explain to him that I'd try them on but I have a narrow foot and in the past Nike's haven't worked for me. {Growing up I could never wear the "popular shoes" ie Nike, Adidas, Reebok etc. No, my Mom would take us to the next town over to this weird specialty shoe store that had narrow shoe sizes. Well, let's say I was sportin' New Balance before they "cool." It has basically traumatized me for life and now I have shoe issues.} So, anyway I tried on the shoes Brian recommended and whatta know, they fit great. After eliminating some Ascics and New Balance it came down to some Brooks and the Nikes. Well, after sporting Mizunos for the last two pairs of running shoes, I've gone to the dark side. I feel so "cool" now.

{Please excuse the poor picture quality due to a humid/fogged up camera on my phone this morning. Also, please ignore the spinach plant that appears to be coming out of the shoe. More on gardening in a later post.}

Anyway, it might have been a selling point when Brian told me he also trains in these shoes {I'm a total sucker} and that they won't get filthy on the Town Lake trail. And like I said, we are practically BFF's so I trust him. He even helped me with some stretches for my hurt hip. In all seriousness, I'd highly recommend Texas Running Company,  because they analysis your stride on film. Unlike some other running stores in town that have you jog a bit in the store and then push whatever shoe they are trying to sell at that point in time.

So, this morning I took them for a short run with Max and they felt great. The pain was really dull and not nearly as bad as Saturday. But don't think I'm all self-diagnosis via Google and no professional help, I've backed off of my training a bit and have an appointment next week with the folks that fixed my IT band at the Airrosti clinic. I'm going to get rid of this pain in my butt before it gets out of control like I let my IT band. 

Kelly

P.S. My opinions on the awesome service and imaginary friendship with Brian and the folks at Texas Running Company are totally my own. They have no clue who I am, other than the sweaty bike riding girl who bought some running shoes on Sunday.