I would like to introduce you to your Ilium Crest. What, you may ask, is your Ilium Crest? It is the very tip top of your hip bone, the bone which rises above your pelvis and is closest to your ribs.
Last fall when I was preparing for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World, I had a slight ache in my hip. Only this pain was directly over my hip joint. I didn't hurt. It was an ache and when I stretched that muscle, it felt great. I had such relief.
In the back of my mind, I thought it was a little bit of IT Band Syndrome. So I decided to rest it and stop running for the winter. I focused on swimming and biking and it's felt great all winter. I even told my husband that my hip had stopped popping when I rotated my toe inward.
Last week I started running again. Nice and easy, nothing crazy. I figured my cardio had been good all winter, but I wanted to graduate back into running because I've read numerous stories of people hitting it hard and getting injured. So last week I did some walk/runs with Camo-Man and felt pretty good. Saturday I did Body Pump and jumped on the treadmill for a couple of miles to flush out the lactic acid. I felt great!
Sunday I swam 600 yards. I taught Body Flow and then I wanted to run a 5k without stopping on the treadmill. I walked for 5 minutes to warm up and then set the treadmill to an incline of 1 and speed of 5.6. Nothing strenuous. After a mile, I moved up to 5.8 and after 2 miles, up to 6.0. A 10 minute mile pace. A pace I've run at easily in the past.
At 2.7 miles, I felt a pinch at the top of my Ilium Crest. I thought it was strange, but it was a simple pinch. I kept pushing through it. At 2.8 miles, I felt the pain move around to the front of my hip bone. That freaked me out. I knew it was time to walk. I walked for a while until I hit 3 miles. I tried to run the final tenth of a mile and while I was able to finish it, it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling. Of course, the worst diagnoses started going through my mind.
I visited my dear friend and doctor, Dr. Volkan Sumer, on Monday. A x-ray revealed nothing more than some arthritis in my hip (whooopee - got that to look forward to) but the arthritis is not causing the pain I am dealing with right now.
So this morning I am scheduled for a MRI. I am pretty anxious to find out what is going on and what it means for my 2011 Race Schedule and my lofty goals.
