As with most sports, running can lead to injury. Running improperly, without training well, pushing too far too fast, falls, and body type can all lead to serious injuries that can derail race training. Sadly, both N and I have had injuries.

We use the Jeff Galloway method of run/walk/run as it is the best way to train your body to withstand long distances with minimal injury. However, sometimes the body just won’t cooperate. It appears both N and I have bodies that are not so happy with running.

N developed IT band syndrome during training for our first marathon. He completed despite the injury and has learned to cope with it well. He has now finished 2 marathons and a half marathons. He knows how to manage the pain with a combination of stretching, icing, and using KT tape on the IT band.

I had not had a specific injury before but have been dealing with hip pain for a while now. It gets worse every pregnancy and last time was so bad that I had difficulty standing, and sitting for too long in the later months. After we ran 9 miles in September as part of our training for the Disney Marathon, I had extreme pain for several days. I decided to go to an Ortho Specialist. He ordered an MRI, and it showed that I have a Labral tear.

Official info is here, but a basic rundown is that the Labrum is a ring of cartilage that cushions the hip joint. A labral tear is a rip in that cartilage and results in significate hip and groin pain. It is chronic and can only be really fixed with surgery. As that is a serious option, I have decided not to go that way for now. A more conservative treatment is PT and strengthening of the area. So I will be trying that first. I will post more about it when I find a system that works for me. For now, I find myself nervous to run. Hopefully I can conquer that fear soon and get back out there.