Healing is Happening!

Happy Monday! Everyone have a great weekend? As usual it went by way too fast.


Isn’t it funny how our dreams are so related to what's going on in our lives? Since I can't run or practice Bikram right now I had a dream last night that I said...Oh the hell with it! And decided to jump in at the last minute and run a marathon. The starting line was set up in a department store and there were only a handful of people running it. See, I have been so upset the past few days about not being able to workout and this is how it played out in my head. Funny.

Anyway, it's so cold out and I really just wanted to stay in my cozy bed under the nice fluffy covers a little bit longer this morning. I thought about rolling over to grab a few extra minutes of coziness. Then I figured that would only make it more difficult in the long run. Sigh...I threw of the warm covers and picked my body up.

As I hung my legs over the side of my bed I started talking to myself....Please, please, please let my hip feel better. PLEASE. I have been so good about resting and icing it this past week it just HAS to feel better. My feet hit the floor, I take a deep breath and stand up. Keep in mind that for the past several weeks the simple act of getting out of bed and moving my legs across the bedroom every morning has been a very difficult task. When my right leg would go to push off the floor and move my body forward...nothing less than sheer pain. So this morning I stood there a second before moving forward, almost waiting for the pain to come. Hmmmm... not too bad. I start charging (ok, not charging so much. More like inching) forward and while there is still lots of tenderness there is not that sharp shooting pain I had become accustomed to! Progress...I think! Definite progress.

As I'm getting dressed I also notice how I can stand on my right leg without wincing. Oh it still hurts but I think I have turned the corner. This hip? I do believe she is healing!

Why oh why didn't I take the time to rest it earlier? What did I do instead? I thought...I'm strong and tough. I'm not fragile. I can work through the pain. But guess what? You can't work through a real injury. Injuries need time to heal. You have to take care of them. They won't just "go away". When I look back over the past several weeks I'm so mad at myself. I'm mad I didn't listen to my body. That I walked around limping, walking like a penguin. Fighting back tears at points.

Why did I think this was ok? Why did I think it would just get better without time to heal? Why didn't I listen to people when they kept telling me rest was the only way to heal my injury? And most importantly, why didn’t I take the advice I so often give to others? Rest equals healing. It just does. Practice what you preach Traci.

Well, no sense in beating myself up now. Past is past I always say. The good news here is I did come to my senses. I realized I would rather take a week or 2 off now and heal it properly than end up with permanent damage. In some ways I think this sort of "work through the pain" mentality stems from years ago when I was a gymnast. That's what we did, we worked through the pain...Back pain, torn hamstrings, palms of the hands so torn and bloody from the bars (ripped palms were a like a badge of hard work), bruised bodies from falling off the bars and beam, on the floor and off the vault...on so on. We just rocked on. That was expected and that's what we did. I guess it made us mentally tough, but wow! Crazy stuff when I think back.

So here I am. I haven't run or done yoga since last Sunday. While it certainly doesn't make me happy (possibly even a bit cranky), I know this is what my body needs to heal. I'm on my way! Isn't that great news? I'm not quite there yet, but I would say I'm better than 50%. Lots of healing in one week! I just get all excited with the anticipation of getting back to my practice first and then my running. I think a few more days and I might, I just might be pain free. And that will make this girl very happy!

Hope you all have a fantastic Monday and start to the week!

To the 101 Challengers...Congrats on 1 month done and good luck with month #2. You guys totally rock!

E...Hope your leg is feeling better!

My niece Hannah: Congrats on your 1st place All Around finish! Ah, yes, yet another gymnast in our family!

Cheers! Traci