Picking battles

The hip drama continues, a constant cycle of rest, run, reinjure, repeat.  I can honestly say I've been a better patient over the last couple weeks though, and as a result I've been feeling pretty good the last couple of days.  I'd like to say it's because I'm maturing, but I think honestly it's because I was really just in too much pain to run.  Some days it was almost too painful to walk.  Tomorrow is the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Gillette Stadium (home of the Patriots!) and I've been looking forward to this race all year.  The thought of having to miss this race gave me the motivation I needed to give my hip a break.  As promised, I even bailed out of racing the West Hill Dam 5 miler on Thursday, although I did still volunteer.  (More about this in an upcoming blog when I can do it justice). 
The extensive rest seems to have helped a bit, because the inflamation has definitely gone down and my hip has been feeling a lot better.  Finally, on Friday I had to test it out.  I knew if I had any chance of running a 10K this weekend, I had to at least see if I could run.  So, Friday night I slowly (and I mean slowly) jogged 3.75 miles around the West Hill Dam trails.  At an excrutiatingly slow pace I shuffled along, testing out the hip and all other body parts.  Everything in my body seemed to say the same thing.  What the?? I thought you retired us!  It was frustrating running so slowly, especially when my hip was burning and I was hovering close to a 10 minute pace.  The run was a success though, and mission accomplished.  My hip wasn't any more sore after the run, and everything else seemed to hold up just fine.  (And, no heart failure!)  After that hip-tester run, I finalized my weekend plans for the 10K.

On Saturday Kerri, Andrew and I took a drive down to Patriots Place in Foxboro to pick up our bibs.  It was a nice afternoon to check out the shops and it was a great chance to see Gillette Stadium when it wasn't mobbed with people.  It really is such a beautiful stadium.

Gillette Stadium. Eerily quiet!

We took our time wandering through the shops and I grabbed a couple horsie shirts in the Life is Good store.  I scoped out some future watering holes.  I'll be paying this place a visit real soon!

I'm excited for tomorrow, and it's a fun feeling to have no pressure going into this race.  Not that I've ever been a fast runner, but knowing that this race will most certainly be my slowest, and that I'm truly running it "just to finish" somehow is a relief.  It's going to be a great time with a fun atmosphere, lots of friends there, and my son cheering me on and taking pictures.  After the race, a bunch of us are heading over to Ronnie's for a little grilling and swimming.  I'm hoping for some cool water to soak what's sure to be an aching hip.  Reader beware, the next race report blog post is bound to be a colorful one!  Happy 4th!