When I first talked about my running plans for the summer I knew that I wanted to run the Ventura Marathon or Half Marathon since it takes place on my birthday. I didn't want to put any pressure on myself and I just wanted to enjoy my run since it will be a while before a race falls on my birthday again.
For the past few weeks I have been dealing with pain in my left hip. It never hurts while I run but seems to be sore the next morning. I self diagnosed myself with hip bursitis so I took nine days off from running to see if it would get better. I have been faithfully doing these exercises at home twice a day. I decided to go for an easy 6 miles run on Monday since I needed to make a decision by Tuesday and still had some minor soreness. I also saw my doctor on Tuesday and he confirmed that I have a case of hip bursitis.
The good thing is that I have already been doing the exercises he recommended and taking anti-inflammatory meds so I am a already a lot better. He told me that I should not run as long as I feel the pain which is what I expected he would say. The words that us runners hate to hear!
My deadline to defer my race was Tuesday so I had to make a decision or take my chances and lose my money. I honestly felt like I could still run the race if I ran at any easy pace which was my original plan to begin with. After much thought and listening to the advice of others, I decided to defer my entry to 2015 because it is the smart thing to do. I have to listen to my body and think of how this will affect me long term. I also have to practice what I preach. I still have my heart set on running Long Beach with my friend in four weeks so I need to focus on getting better for that race. I already have a 20 miler under my belt so I think I can pull it off if I allow myself to heal. My doctor thinks that I should be feeling 100% in the next week or so since I already took some time off.
So if you are running Ventura I won't be out there running in my birthday outfit. I won't have a chance to run a race that falls on my birthday for quite a few years so that is kind of disappointing. I think I am at peace with my decision and am grateful that I am already feeling a lot better. I am a little sad that this is my second DNS for 2014. I almost feel like I am jinxed but hopefully this is the start to something even better for me.
Have you ever ran a race on your birthday?
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