NYC Marathon Training (Week 18) – Running as Mental Therapy

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Well, it has now been over a week since I started back to running after my hip injection, and I’m pretty sure that it didn’t have any impact on my injury. I’m convinced that the reduction in pain I felt last Wednesday and Thursday were primarily due to taking time off, because by Friday evening the aching had returned.

However, since my ortho things this is something that I can’t injure any worse, I’m going to continue doing my rehab exercises and try to push through to NYC. To that end, Nathan and I did a very, very chill 3-mile shakeout run on the Vaughn’s Gap cross country course last Friday morning, and then I got in a very solid 18-mile on Saturday with the Nashville Striders on the Shelby Bottoms and Stones River Greenways.

My hip was very sore for the first 3 to 4 miles of the long run, but after taking a quick break to stretch out, the pain vanished for the remainder of the run. All-in-all it ended up being really good. Some fatigue started setting in around mile 14, but I was still able to finish all 18 with a fairly decent pace.

The other great thing about the 18-miler was that it was the first time since I learned about the sudden death of my dear friend Kerry on Wednesday that I had been able to focus my mind on something else. Of course, this flooded back quickly as we laid him to rest on Saturday afternoon. Tidal wave of emotions on Saturday.

By Monday morning, my hip and leg were pretty sore (and tired!), but Nathan, Paxton, and I (the Bellevue Trio!) cranked out 6.5 easy-paced miles on the White and Red trails in Percy Warner Parks. Of course, “easy pace” definitely does not mean “easy run” on these trails with the monstrous elevation changes:

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Yesterday morning, Nathan and I did a chill 8.3-mile run through Bellevue, Edwin Warner Park, and the Harpeth River Greenway. My hip and leg were still sore, but this slowly subsided throughout. We survived the return of the nasty humidity to have a pretty good run.

Today was a scheduled off-day, and then I hope to be back on Thursday with some tempo intervals if my hip will allow it.

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Ephesians Chapter 6:1-9 Handouts and Notes are Now Online

For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Handouts and Notes for Ephesians Chapter 6:1-9 are now available online. Lord willing we will begin covering this text during class tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!

NYC Marathon Training (Week 17) – So Far So Good

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While running has been pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things this week, I have gotten in a couple of runs since my injection on Monday. Yesterday morning I did a very, very chill 6.25-mile run with Paxton on the Harpeth River Greenway. The temperatures and humidity were absolutely perfect, and the run was quite enjoyable with my friend. Overall my hip felt a little stiff and sore, but no pain to mention.

Tonight was track with the JSRC, and I was quite anxious about how it would go. I got there plenty early to make sure I was good and loose for the workout. Here’s a rundown:

  • 2-mile warmup
  • 6 x 100m Stride Outs
  • 3 x 400m fresh (60 sec / 400m recovery)
  • 3 x 250m gfg (150m / 400m recovery)
  • 3 x 250m ggg (150m / 400m recovery)
  • 800m Straights and Curves
  • 1/2-mile cool down

There were only three of us that participated tonight, and I ended up running most of the intervals with Hannah. I lagged behind her quite a bit on the 400s, because I was trying to be very conservative. However, by the time we got to the 250s, things were finally starting to loosen up and I was able to keep up.

All-in-all I felt really good, and my hip seems to be holding together pretty well. It is still really tight, but no noticeable pain so far. At this point I’m pretty pleased with the results of the injection, but the real test will come Saturday when I try my first long run. Hoping things will hold together well enough that I can still toe the line in NYC this fall.

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Kerry Anderson (1960 to 2013)

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On Tuesday, I lost one of my dearest friends. There is no way that I can express how much Kerry has meant to my life and I’m still in total shock. Kerry gave me my first job out of college back in 1996 and just a few months ago went absolutely out of his way to make sure that our family had the best experience we possibly could on our spring break vacation to St. Louis. In between I would just simply say that he was a good friend who made me laugh, made me think, encouraged me to be more involved in preaching, teaching, and writing, and who supported me in almost every way imaginable. You will be missed my friend!

Press Release from Gospel Advocate Company

Please pray for the Anderson family (Neil and Glenda, Matthew, Neila and Nelson) – They are a special family that has dealt with a number of serious trials over the past few years.

 

Ephesians Chapter 5:22-33 Handouts and Notes are Now Online

For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Handouts and Notes for Ephesians Chapter 5:22-33 are now available online. Lord willing we will begin covering this text during class tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!

NYC Marathon Training (Week 17) – Hope to Get Off the Bench Tomorrow

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I went to see my ortho yesterday, and he diagnosed me with IT Band Syndrome in the hip along with possible Trochanteric Bursitis. The good news is that this is all “soft tissue” in nature, and he does not think that the injury involves bone or the hip joint itself. He gave me a cortisone shot in my hip to try and calm down the inflammation, and the goal is to be back running by tomorrow morning. He told me that the cortisone would take about 24-hours to start working, and then I could be back running in 48-hours.

It is interesting how sore my hip is today, but I’m guessing this is mostly from the shot itself and not from the inflammation. I’m pretty nervous about how my hip will feel getting back on the road, and know that I have to really buckle down on doing my glute and adductor exercises. I didn’t realize how intense the side effects would be from the injection, since it is localized. I’ve always hated taking a Prednisone dose pack, because of the way it makes me feel, and this is very similar. I’m constantly hot and feel like I’m hyped up on caffeine. I could not fall asleep until about 4am this morning and then had to get up around 6am to take my daughter to school. Hope this doesn’t last too long!

Anyway, I hope to post another update after my first run tomorrow morning.

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NYC Marathon Training (Week 16) – Just Can’t Stay Off the Bench

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Well….these days it just seems like I can’t keep myself off the bench. After taking 4-days off due to hip pain a couple of weeks ago, I’m back on the bench again with the same problem. I tried running at track last night, but quickly noticed that I was altering my stride to compensate for the discomfort. This caused me to bail less than halfway through the workout.

One of my running friends, who is a Nurse Practitioner, said she was pretty confident it was hip bursitis. I hope she’s right, and that this can be taken care of with a cortisone injection. Whatever the case, I have an appointment with my ortho on Monday to see what is going on. My plan is to stay off the road until then.

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