Well...I apparently took people telling me to "crush" the marathon a little too literally and earned myself a medal and a grade 4 stress reaction in my hip/femur. My hip was tight in the week and a half before the race, but I assumed it was my normal TFL tightness and resorted to my usual methods to loosen it. Also...we all are convinced everything is broken during taper. I felt fine during the run, normal "I am running 26.2 miles" soreness...but in the days after the race, as the muscle soreness went down, it was pretty clear my hip was not ok.
I got lucky and got right into my doctor 2 weeks post race. At that point I was having a lot of pain and limping a fair amount - enough that people at work could tell I wasn't comfortable. An x-ray showed a suspected stress-fracture and until I could get the MRI, I was given my new accessory...crutches! I was flying to Oregon the next day, so that made travel super interesting...!
The MRI showed a "Grade 4a stress reaction" so to quote my doctor "we caught it early...but not early enough..." Essentially, if I had figured it was nothing and started to run again I could have ended up with a complete fracture in my hip.
The plan is 6 weeks on crutches, and assess if I can start to weight bear more and start increasing activity. Running is still far off, but I am in shockingly good spirits about this. I ran the marathon! I got my PR! I have come back from a similar injury before, so I know it's possible. But for now...I am doing jigsaw puzzles on the Pelo tread belt...!
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