Tag: tendonitis

November 2023 Life

On By LeraIn Life, running, weight lossLeave a comment

Hey guys! It’s been about a month since I’ve updated you, so here it is! I’ve been steadily working on losing weight. It’s slowed down to one pound a week. It’s frustratingly slow, but I realize that means I have a higher chance of success in keeping it off. I could always eat less to increase my deficit, but with working out, I need to make sure I’m getting enough nutrition, especially while trying to heal an injury. I am finally starting to fit into regular sized clothes, so I’m looking forward to having more options available for that. It was definitely the ego boost that I needed right now. Still, though, in the last 9 months, I’ve lost 48 pounds, which I’m thrilled with.

As far as my leg goes, I still don’t know what’s wrong with it. I feel like physical therapy was a waste of time for the most part. I think I would have been better off waiting for the clinic that was booking a month out because I think I would have had better treatment. I only did 5 sessions, which were once a week, all under 30 minutes, and all I did was the same exercises I was working on at home. The IT band area does feel better, so in that regard it wasn’t a waste, but I still have a lot of pain after a run a little lower down and around the back, pain so bad with kneeling that I can’t do that anymore, and there’s a lump there, so that’s going to need to be addressed when I follow up with my doctor in a few weeks.


All that said, my PT did tell me I could run short distances and try to build up from there. I had too much pain trying to run one mile straight through, but I split that up into walk/run intervals of 0.1 mile walk, 0.2 mile run until I hit 2 miles, and while I was sore the day after, it was less than running all the way through a mile. I ended up signing up for a Thanksgiving Day 5k, which I have wanted to do every year since I started running and have always ended up injured, but I simply don’t care this year and am going to go and do it anyway, even if I have to walk.

Autumn Tidings

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Forgive me for not updating this in four months! I can hardly believe how fast the time is flowing by these days. It’s been six months since changing jobs, and I don’t regret a single thing.

In terms of running, it’s been going okay. My knee is still an issue, and now my hip on the same side has been having some muscle stiffness on the outside. I took a few weeks off and restarted Couch to 5K this weekend. I had only been getting out once a week to run and focusing on cross training with speed walking and biking. Even biking still makes my knee hurt if I go too long. Despite everything, I’m grateful for at least being able to do some things. That said, I do want to do something with this knee of mine. It’s still far too much of a problem. The last run I did before taking a breaks was 2 miles, and I had major problems— all of them on my right leg. My knee was achy and swollen, my hip was mildly sore and quite stiff, my hamstrings, glutes, and calf felt strained, and even my ankle was trying to act up again, and that hasn’t been an issue in many months. I have no idea what to do. I’ve been really upset and angry about it. I’m sure if I see my doctor, he’ll want me to do PT for it again, but my copay will be much cheaper in the near year for that, so I’d rather wait a bit. I’m already doing PT for my shoulder right now (rotator cuff tendinitis), and that’s taking enough of my money.

Issues aside, I did run a 5k last month! It was the Halloween-themed run that I did last year, and it was even more enjoyable this year! I dressed as a female version of Mario and got some amazing compliments on my costume, and I got singled out by one of the photographers as I was walking by him because he wanted me to pose for a photo, so that was fun. I ran this race with two of my friends, and it was great. I actually didn’t do too badly, but I would love to finish faster one day. Again, I’m just grateful to be able to do it at all.

I also recently took a little bit of a bike trip about 30 miles south of me and rode on a trail that went through four different parks. It was ten miles out and ten miles back, and I stopped and chained my bike every so often and just wandered around. I packed a mini breakfast to eat halfway through; at the end of the path was a dam with a two story overlook. It sounds a little more grand than it was, but it was still really beautiful. It was on the chilly side that morning, so I didn’t run into a lot of people, which is the way I like it. I spent three hours just exploring all along that trail. I definitely want to make time to do something like that again at a new place.

All in all, things are going well. I can only hope it stays this wonderful through the end of the year!

Happy July!

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

The last nearly two months have been crazy! I just finished a week where I was traveling to other offices. It wasn’t bad, but I think I’ll like some offices better than others. Some days I feel like I’m doing well, and other days I feel like I make one mistake after another. Despite how challenging it can be at times, I really am enjoying this new adventure.

Next, running! I’ve been running every single Saturday morning in the woods. It’s so freeing that I don’t know how I was doing it on the road before. It used to be that it was too painful for all of my injuries, but it hasn’t been bad lately. My knee is still bothering me, especially the tendon below my kneecap, but it’s not bad enough that I can’t run. I’ve only been going once or twice a week, but I’m hoping I can eventually get that to three times. I would like to do a Halloween race again this year. It was a ton of fun last time getting dressed up and going out to enjoy the morning.

I ended up replacing my FitBit charge 3 with a Garmin Forerunner 55. My FitBit wasn’t tracking accurately and was giving me some crazy paces. I wish I could believe that I was really running 9 minute miles, but I know that’s way too fast. If I can keep it at 14 minutes a mile, I’m doing well, so it was obviously off by quite a bit. It wasn’t as inaccurate on the roads, but still enough that I decided to upgrade. The Garmin has GPS built in, so it will be a lot more accurate than the FitBit, which had to connect to the GPS on my phone. It also means that on rainy days, I won’t even need to worry about protecting my phone; I can just leave it at home now and still track my runs.

Really not much else has been going on. I’ve just been getting used to working a normal office hours type job and enjoying having my nights and weekends free to do whatever I want. It’s a nice new level of freedom I never knew existed before!

April News!

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

This post is going to start with some good news! I found a new job that I will be starting in the coming weeks! I’m so excited to make the transition to something new after nearly 8 years doing the same thing. I’m tired of management, I’m tired of the irregular hours, I’m tired of working nearly every weekend and holiday, as well as nights. I’m tired of people yelling at me for things beyond my control every day. It’s just time to move on and see what the next adventure is.

I’ll now be coordinating care for patients in a cardiology office, which sounds simple to say it that way, but hearing the way it was described at my interview makes it seem somewhat overwhelming. However, I’m up for the task of learning how to be great at this new path. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that office to call me. I had put my application in two and a half weeks before they called to schedule my interview, so I pretty much assumed I wasn’t going to hear anything. I was happily surprised when they called me and asked if I was free the next day. I was really nervous, because I don’t do well at interviews. I never feel like I answer any questions very clearly, but this one went okay. Not excellent, but not badly. We got to talking and they offered me the job before I even left. They said if I was willing to work hard and learn the ropes, they would put the time in to training me. I had interviewed off and on for similar positions for the past year with other offices and hadn’t had any luck, so I’m truly blessed to have found this.

That’s the biggest thing that’s been going on this month. I did finally do my first run in two months this past Friday, and it went relatively well. I think I would have been better off running on the road, but a trail run just sounded so nice. The uneven ground has often been a problem for me, though. It got my ankle a little sore, which I think affected my knee some. I didn’t have too much pain, though, just mild. However, later on at work, I noticed when I was squatting that my kneecap felt like it was sliding more than it had been the last month. I’m continuing to strengthen my muscles, as that is my biggest limiting factor in things getting better. I just can’t seem to get my hips/glutes to engage with my physical therapy exercises, and at least two thirds of the things I do there are designed to target those areas. I asked my PT if he had any other tips to try, and he told me that “as crazy as it sounds, focus your brain power on just the muscles you are trying to get to move and it can make a difference.” I see where he’s coming from; being mindful of really noticing how your body is moving during an exercise should be helpful. I see my sports medicine doctor in a couple of days for a follow-up, but I don’t think he’s going to have anything to say other than just keep working on strength. The pain isn’t much of a problem except when I put too much weight through my right leg, and that’s something that would tend to improve with strength. I’ll still ask him if he has any thoughts on getting my muscles to work better, so we’ll see.

That’s all for today. I do want to give an update on my progress with Noom, but I haven’t been doing well at following the program the last two weeks. Once this last week of work is done and I get a good routine going having the same shift Monday through Friday, it will go better. It’s hard to plan when you never know what you’re doing until one or two days before the new week begins. I think once I get back on track, I’ll have more to say about it. I still have a loss of ten pounds, so I’m happy I didn’t gain anything the last two weeks.

So, until next time, take care!

PT, a 5K, and Life

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s hard to believe the year is almost over already! In the month since I’ve updated you guys, I’ve finished physical therapy for the time being, unless my doctor decides I need to do some more. I don’t go back for my follow-up until January 5th, so for the next couple weeks, I will be working on my stretches and strengthening at home and seeing how it goes. If things get worse before my appointment, my PT said I could call and we could figure out what needs to be done. I’m not 100% convinced that I will be okay on my own yet because it’s hard to measure that when I haven’t been doing my usual running and biking. I’m still having some trouble with my knee. It had started to feel better, and then I had a work week that destroyed all of my progress and set me back. I still can’t function well at work unless I’m maxed out on ibuprofen. A physical job and an injury do not go well together. That’s why I have such slow healing times whenever I get injured.

Despite all that, I did do another 5K that was holiday themed two weeks ago. I was already signed up, so my PT knew I was going to try it anyway. I had originally planned to try running half of it, since my doctor told me I could run one to one and a half miles twice a week, but I didn’t even make it much more than a half mile. I felt so much like I failed when I had to walk almost that whole distance. Obviously I was being too hard on myself in that moment, but it was hard to not think that way. There’s nothing wrong with walking if you need to. I shouldn’t have beaten myself up about it while dealing with a known injury and not having been able to train properly. What helped pull me out of that thinking during the race was a group of 4 little kids just past the two mile mark standing in their yard and throwing leaves like confetti at all of us and cheering for us. They didn’t care how anyone was doing. They cheered for everyone going by them anyway.

After that race, I took two weeks off. My PT said I could ease back in to running by starting with a half mile run. That’s less than my doctor had said, but I. Think it’s for the best to take it slower after that abysmal performance I had at that race. When my PT asked me when my next race was, I told him New Year’s Eve at midnight. I don’t think he was expecting that because he just started laughing and called me “one of those crazy runners”. I told him I would be sure to take it easy and just run as much as my body felt comfortable with. I think I’ll be walking a little in the beginning to get my body warmed up some and then try to run about a mile and a half. I’m hoping in two weeks I can be close-ish to that. I did 10 minutes today, which was 0.2 miles more than the half mile I was supposed to do, but I was feeling okay and thought it would be good for me mentally to at least be able to do 10 minutes. It felt so hard after not being able to train much. It’s been at least a month since I ran over 30 minutes. Every other run has been 20 or less, and getting back to it after no running for weeks at a time was a challenge. I was very slow, but in a way that’s good because it will ease my knee back in, hopefully.

I probably won’t update this again until January after my next 5K and my appointment since life is pretty boring otherwise. I do have a week off starting December 21st, so I just have two more work days to make it through and then I can let my body and mind rest a little. It’s been so stressful the last couple of weeks. I’ve been stuck staying late every week on my morning days, which would be fine if it was once in a while, but not 3 weeks straight. And then yesterday, someone I work with massively took their anger out on me for a situation I couldn’t control and I had a breakdown. I was shaking and trying not cry while I was still at work, which was unsuccessful. At the point where it started, I only had one more hour to go, so I was able to hold most of it back until I got home. One day I just won’t go back. I can’t take many more days like that. I try not to take it personally, but I got yelled at and accused of “trying to get out of work” because a company we contract with had a weird situation occur and couldn’t deliver our product that day. It was out of their hands, and it was out of mine. There wasn’t anything either of us could have done about it. All we can do is wait for an alternate delivery date. To be yelled at about it was unfair.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great rest of the year, and a great start to 2022!

PT, Round 5

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s been a whirlwind of a month, but I feel like things are looking up. I saw my primary care doctor for my knee, and he wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. He said it could be a few different things based on my exam. When I called to make the appointment my knee was feeling worse than the day I actually had the appointment, so it wasn’t giving me its usual problems. My doctor told me I always make things difficult (jokingly, of course), but I can’t help it my body didn’t read the instruction manuals. It always shows problems in weird ways. Since he wasn’t sure, he told me he wanted someone else to look at my knee. I appreciated his honesty about it. He told me he’d contact someone he knew in sports medicine and see if I could be seen.

The next business day I got a call from a sports medicine office to schedule an appointment, and they got me in within a week and a half. I really like the doctor I saw there. He was great at explaining everything to me, very friendly, and he took my goals into consideration to come up with a plan for me. It turns out I have runner’s knee. The plan was to start physical therapy for 4-6 weeks and cut back on my workouts. So now I can only run two days a week for half my usually time and bike one day. I asked if I could still do the 5Ks I was signed up for and he said it was fine if I took a few days off afterward.

I started physical therapy a few days ago and will be going three times a week. I get to see the PT I’ve always seen, so he knows my weird problems already. My femur is twisted internally, my tibia is twisted externally, and my foot points out on my affected leg. He’s trying to correct that as much as possible while we work to build strength in key areas. Yesterday’s session has my muscles sore, but that means it was an effective workout for me. I’m hoping things calm down soon and I can enjoy some more time running pain free in the new year!

Quick Check-in March 2021

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

Forgive me for the lack of updates lately, but there hasn’t been too much to tell. We got hammered with a ton of snow in February, which put a damper on being active as much as I would have liked. All things considered with my history of injuries, it probably didn’t hurt to be forced to take things easy. I only got out to run 3 times last month, and I biked 5 times, so it wasn’t exactly the kind of month where I moved closer to any goals.

I’m ready for winter to be over and the warm weather to come back. It’s been so hard on my asthma to run in the winter. I’ve managed to avoid any major issues, but there have been days where I wondered if I needed extra treatment. Luckily I’ve had a lifetime of managing asthma exacerbations and know that I can safely take an extra dose of my inhaler if need be. That works well for me the vast majority of the time. I haven’t had a bad exacerbation in about a year, which (surprise) was brought on by running in the cold. Unfortunately I don’t have a choice about that. I don’t have a gym membership, nor do I have equipment at home, so the outdoors is my gym. It’s far better than sitting around for 4 months and not doing anything. I honestly don’t know if I could be a treadmill runner. I guess I just like being outside too much.

Injury-wise, I don’t know how I’m doing. My hip flexors are still bothering me enough that I worry about them, but not so much that they’re holding me back. I won’t really know how bad they are until I run consistently again. I’m going to keep it easy in March and slowly increase my distance from 2 miles to 3. Something else that’s been bothering me off and on is my knee. I’m not really sure what’s wrong with it, but it’s been clicking and has been mildly sore at times since November. It isn’t limiting what I can do, but I worry that I’m causing damage. I asked my doctor about it just to be sure I was safe to keep running, and he thinks it might be my kneecap not tracking correctly, or a meniscus issue. We aren’t doing anything about it unless it gets worse, so for now I’m diligently keeping detailed notes in my training journal like always. It’s likely related to my leg length discrepancy, and I was hoping Frankenshoe would do a little more for me than it has been. It’s been helping with some of the pain, especially on my left hip and SI joint, but I thought that by now I’d be seeing more improvement with the other trouble spots. I’ve been using it since the end of December, but it may just take more time. One thing I wish I knew is why my leg length discrepancy wasn’t treated as a child. A one inch difference is a lot. I asked my parents about it and they said the specialist they took me to every six months only ever wanted to do x-rays to keep an eye on it. I was planning to ask the orthopedist I was seeing, but he got all judgmental and somehow forgot I was a runner despite being there for a running injury (https:/lifesaride.home.blog/2020/11/16/feeling-like-giving-up/). Eventually I’ll ask my primary care doctor for a referral to someone, but for now I’ll let him manage anything I may need. Obviously I’m not going back to the orthopedist I was seeing after how he treated me, and the sports medicine appointment I had in the summer was a joke (all talking and no actual poking and prodding my injuries, wanting me to do PT which I had already been trying, and come back in 6 weeks—yeah, didn’t see the point in going back there either).

Anyway, I kind of started ranting a little, but I can’t help it. I’m sure one day all of these struggles will fade into the background. Until then, I’ll just keep trying to do my best like I always do!

Constant Struggles

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

I’ve been having a really hard time since the 5k. Somehow, despite everything I try and all the effort I put in to following the advice I’m given to the letter, I can’t catch a break. At my last physical therapy session before the race, I was told that after it was over, I should take a break from my workouts for two weeks and rest. I had already decreased my biking for weeks before the race so I wouldn’t work my trouble spots harder than they were already working, which made sense and I figured the sacrifice would be worth it. I was at least able to keep training and run my race. My PT wanted me to decrease my biking even more, which knocked me down to just 3 days a week of only 20-30 minutes and absolutely no running for the duration of the break. During that time, I missed running and was anxious to get back to training for the next 5k, but I really missed biking. I was riding 6-7 days a week before, and between 45-90 minutes each ride depending on the day. Last year I was able to easily log 15-20 miles a day, and for the last month it’s been 5-6 miles on average. Biking was how I erased my stress, and I am really having a hard time not being able to bike as much as I want.

The two week break felt like it lasted forever, but my pain steadily decreased during that time. My first run back felt amazing, and most importantly, there was no pain. I thought I was finally in the clear. My second run that week went well, too, but my third one was when I knew I was getting my hopes up too high too soon. All of the pain returned near the end of that first week back, which was last week. Fast forward to this week, and it’s still here. I ran twice already and am planning to run again tomorrow. I decided to follow the C25K (couch to 5k) program exactly as laid out unless I need to make modifications. Even though I was able to do more a few weeks ago in terms of endurance, I’m hoping that keeping it easy and steadily increasing my runs with a progressive plan will help keep the pain manageable enough for the next 6 weeks until the race.

So, basically I’m stuck at what to do. I absolutely don’t see the point in taking time off if it isn’t going to help. No, 2 weeks isn’t a long break, but the time before this I took 5 weeks, and the time before that, 16 weeks. What’s the point in taking a break if it doesn’t even provide lasting relief? I could take more time off, but it’s not guaranteed to even work, and I can’t afford to miss any runs leading up to the race. I’m only running 3 days a week, so it’s not like I’m overdoing it. I’m keeping my bike mileage down for now. But what else can I do? I’m doing everything my PT taught me how to do, and the unfortunate thing is that he’s now on medical leave for a while longer and he’s the one that actually knows my case, not to mention that all my PT benefits are used up for the year and having to do self-pay is already going to limit how much I can go because it isn’t cheap. It’s certainly not something I can do more than once a week. I was thinking of calling the clinic and asking if I can do an appointment to come up with a different home plan to try. The rest of the staff at that clinic is awesome and I wouldn’t mind working with any of them, but I have so much going on that I fear whoever it ends up being is going to be overwhelmed with everything I have going on.

As of now, the exhaustive list is:

  1. Left gluteus medius tendonitis and trochanteric bursitis
  2. Left TFL injury of some sort based on the stretches I can feel for that area
  3. Left proximal hamstring strain
  4. Left piriformis tightness, which leads to pain
  5. Left SI joint area pain when I run, and ocassionally with prolonged walking
  6. Right hip flexor tendonitis
  7. Right hamstring strain about two inches above my knee
  8. Right ankle mystery problem (still no official diagnosis after 2.5 years)

It’s really depressing to see everything in a list, but it is what it is. I started having most of these issues after my surgery, but I thought it was related to 10 weeks of crutches, and a few months of wearing the walking boot. I know for sure my body wasn’t moving ideally for a long time after my surgery, so it easily could have been that. I’ve had gluteus medius tendonitis before, about 11 years ago, but it went away pretty quickly and didn’t come back until 11 months ago.

My PT thinks a lot of it has to do with my ankle not letting me walk properly. I’m sure that has something to do with it, but I have another theory. Personally, I think it’s mostly related to me having a short right leg (anatomical origin as measured in special x-rays). I’ve been researching a lot, and the pain pattern I have is common for that issue. I have a 1 centimeter heel lift in my right shoe, but it’s not enough to fully level my pelvis. Running really aggravates everything, but I don’t know what else to do for it. I can’t use any higher of a lift in my shoe without my heel slipping out. There’s only one other nonsurgical option, and that’s getting my right shoe built to the correct height to even my legs out. I don’t know if it would help, but I’ll certainly be asking about it at my next follow-up with my specialist next month. The only problem with messing with the sole of the shoe is that I don’t know if it would render the motion control useless. I really need a motion control shoe to keep my ankle mostly happy when I run. Without it, I had a lot of ankle instability.

Anyway, forgive my ramblings. I guess I just can’t keep it bottled up anymore and needed to complain in a way that wouldn’t annoy anyone too much. I’m hoping I have time for a PT appointment next week to learn some new stretches and exercises I can try and see if that helps. I certainly have nothing to lose.

5K Training

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Somehow yet another month has slipped by without an update. As predicted, I ended up back at physical therapy for all of my injuries. Better to work on them now before they stop me 100% from doing anything, which was the route I was headed down if I continued to ignore them. My PT knows my goal and how determined I am to meet it, so we’ve been aggressive at the stretching, and I started doing some strengthening this week. I’ve managed to keep running 3 days a week out of sheer stubbornness. Usually it hurts some, but no more than when I’m not running, so I’m going to keep at it. I absolutely refuse to stop again unless I’m told by a medical professional that I should. This is the third time in a year I’ve started trying to run, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep at it.

I decided to sign up for the 5k Dr. S told me about, which is hosted by the running group I joined. I can’t believe it’s only 12 days away. Considering I had to cancel the one in February due to injury, saying I’m looking forward to it is an understatement. I can’t even describe how ridiculously excited I am to finally be this close to that goal. I know I won’t be able to run the whole thing because I won’t be done with my training plan, but if I work in intervals, I should be able to run 80% of the time. I’ll push myself to do what I can, but I’m not going to stress out about it. I’ve also cut my cycling down for now to see if that helps the pain and stiffness in my hips and hamstrings. I think my every day bike habit is hindering my ability to rest well enough, so from now until the race, I’m only riding a few days a week and at a slower pace and less time than I’d prefer. It will hopefully be worth it come race day.

Lastly, I really love being part of a running group. I’ve mostly interacted with the members on Facebook, but I was able to make it to one group run so far, and it was awesome. Having some support out there makes a big difference, and there are a mix of beginners and non beginners, so there are people who understand the struggle to start running and people to look up to for future goals. Everyone has been amazing so far. I plan to do two more group runs this week, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m learning a little about park runs and trail runs through them, and while I’ve only done one trail run so far, I loved it. Being in the woods surrounded by nature was refreshing. I just have to be careful I don’t roll an ankle on the uneven ground, which is why I haven’t been again yet. I do that enough on flat ground to the right ankle, which, as y’all know, already has problems. I don’t need another injury right before my race. I seem to be a magnet for them this past year, and enough is enough.

That’s all I have for now! I’ll let everyone know how my race goes, and maybe even post some photos!!

A Busy Past Month

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

Well, it’s been a heck of a month since I last wrote! As usual, this update will be a bit of a mixed bag of good and bad, but that’s just life for you. Sorry that this is so long! I really need to make it more of a habit to write more than once a month.

I finally got my bike back on July 9, after about 5 weeks at the repair shop. It was a long wait! It’s nice to have safe, functioning brakes again! I almost threw myself over the handlebars on my first ride because they were so responsive. However, I’m not a huge fan of the tire they put on the bike for me because it’s so heavy, but considering I had no other options, I’ll take what I can get. I can always switch it out at a later time. My speeds are slower than they used to be by 1 mph, which isn’t a huge difference, but it puts me back in the light cycling speed bracket 😦  Once the tread wears down a little, I might have more luck.

Next, the early success with the cortisone shot is fading. I still feel better than before, but I’m thinking when I go for my follow-up in two weeks, I’ll be back at physical therapy. I’m not even sure if it’s the same muscle (my left gluteus medius) that’s bothering me, or if it might be my TFL. Both are on the side of the hip where it hurts, and I did have tightness in my TFL when I was doing PT in the winter. I also am 99% sure I have a proximal hamstring injury on the same side, but I need it properly diagnosed by a doctor. Lastly, I’m also having trouble with my right hip flexors and some very slight occasional pain on the side. I’ve been stretching daily to try to relieve everything, but nothing is working to resolve the issues. I ordered a smaller diameter foam roller since the one I have is too big to get all my muscles well, so I’m hoping that might help. Despite all this, I have been able to run, but my pace is really suffering most days. It doesn’t hurt more while running or immediately after, which is the gauge I was given by PT to measure whether I should stop, so I’ve been trying my best to work through it.

I saw Dr. S for my elbow again yesterday, which is better than before thanks to therapy, but it still bothers me at work most days and lately every day when I ride my bike. My arm has also been hurting in the triceps area (which seems unusual for tennis elbow judging by my doctor’s puzzlement) and sometimes up to my shoulder and down through my middle finger. It’s not like that all the time, but it’s enough that it’s a bit worrisome. He gave me a referral to a sports medicine office, but warned me that they don’t like to take his patients if they aren’t athletes. As someone who is an active cyclist and who would love to play tennis again someday or sign up for martial arts, I’m hoping to have some luck. He also put my right ankle on the referral, so maybe someone might be able to figure out what’s wrong with it finally. I gave up on the ankle after that disastrous second opinion back in January, so I guess it’s time to try again.

Also while I was at my appointment yesterday, Dr. S talked with me a bit about running and what might help with some of these ongoing injuries. He suggested doing a video analysis of my running form, but I can’t find any good information from the place he suggested. He said they did it for him at the YMCA in a neighboring city, which does have a specialized physical therapy clinic, but it looks like I don’t have insurance coverage there. I’m not sure if the clinic I always go to would, but at the very least they might be able to just watch me run and make suggestions. I’ll look more into that after my orthopedics appointment, because, like I said, I have a feeling I’ll end up back at physical therapy.

Lastly, Dr. S told me about a local Couch to 5k running group at one of the parks close by, so I did some searching and found the group on Facebook. It will be nice to meet some other beginner runners in the area. I’m not doing that particular program, but I am doing a run/walk interval training program similar to that, so I asked to join the group and was accepted. They do group runs a few nights a week, which I will try to go to on the days I don’t have the afternoon shift, but in the meantime, I can hang out and meet some people online in the group. They’re hosting a program graduation 5k that benefits an area children’s hospital, but I don’t think I’ll be ready in 5.5 weeks. I might see where I am and maybe I can do the interval thing to finish, but I’ll have to consider how safe it might be with my nagging injuries.