Diagnosis

I went to the hip doctor yesterday. I told her what had been happening -- that I thought I had IT band syndrome in my right leg, took a week off, ran 10 miles and felt fine, then switched shoes and started to get a new pain in my left leg, ran 11 miles and had some serious pain and couldn't lift my leg, took a week off, ran the half-marathon and felt pain in my left leg again. I said I thought the newer injury might be a hip flexor something-or-other; she did a couple tests and said I was right: I have hip flexor tendinitis.

When I told her I ran the half-marathon the day before, I was a little afraid she'd scold me or say I was insane. Instead, she said, "Oh, the More Magazine/fitness Magazine Half-Marathon in the rain yesterday? How'd it go?" Loved it! She said I would probably benefit from a couple sessions of physical therapy to learn the strengthening exercises so I'm going to start that next week. She also said she didn't think new shoes would cause the injury, so it might have just been some overuse.

Of course, I asked if I could still run, and I can! She said she didn't see why not, but I might just want to do some lower impact stuff this week. So today I did the elliptical for a bit and made my triumphant return to total body conditioning.

All in all it was a great visit and I really liked her -- especially since she said I can still run! I'm going to keep an eye on it though and be careful. And I'm going to properly break in my new shoes!