A Cold and the Chiropractor 01/10/2015

I’ve been sick for the past couple of days, although I felt it coming on all week. Whenever my husband gets sick, I get sick. It happens every time, even though I’m healthy and I believe my immune system is strong. I just can’t avoid the germs that are in the house.

So I haven’t been exercising much. A little walking is about it. I actually stopped running the day after I went to the chiropractor for my first adjustment. She looked at the MRI report for my knees from a couple years ago and told me that I’m just going to cause further damage if I keep running. She did say that I should at least do it less often, like do other forms of exercise too. So I’m still going to run races, because those are only a few times a year. I’ll work on becoming a yoga master the rest of the time 🙂

This is actually my first time ever seeing a chiropractor. My massage therapist recommended it, because of my complaints of hip pain. She recommended a wonderful chiropractor who uses an activator (a handheld device) to adjust the alignment of the body, which appears to be more accurate than a hands-on approach, because the activator is able to more easily target the exact area of the body skeleton that needs to be adjusted.

I’ve had two adjustments so far. I was really sore and had a little pain following the first adjustment, and it was suggested to me to only walk and do light stretching while I’m sore. Because the weather is really cold, I haven’t been walking much. I can’t tell yet if I have any pain from the second adjustment, which was just yesterday. I’ll have to wait and see, because it’s early in the morning and my body hasn’t woken up yet. Pain and discomfort is normal, I was told, because the muscles and tendons are adjusting to the changes in the body skeleton. Once they adjust, the pain will be gone. Which, it does seem to go away after a couple of days, but I’m getting adjusted twice a week right now, so I’m in pain almost all the time.

Seeing the chiropractor is a process that involves a series of adjustments in order to correct the alignment of the body, and then probably future adjustments to continue to keep my body aligned, as our bodies can get out of alignment from daily living. An example of this, I believe, is crossing the legs. I believe repeatedly doing this can change the skeleton. So I’m trying to keep my body in positions that are natural for it, like sitting with both feet on the floor and my legs straight. That’s just one example.

I actually had some x-rays done that the chiropractor recommended – for my neck, lower-back, and pelvis. It turns out that my neck is crooked in a way that was likely caused by whiplash, probably when I was hit by a car. I didn’t know I had whiplash then, because I became unconscious just before I was hit, which explains my neck pain and possibly why I get so many knots in my shoulder muscles. Also, my spine is not straight, my pelvis and hips are not even, my femurs and tibias don’t line up correctly, etc. So I’m in need of a lot of adjustments to correct my alignment.

I’m looking forward to getting aligned. It is a part of my health journey.

Have a great weekend!

My Second 5K Race 12/24/2014

My second 5K race was incredible. It was better than than the first one, because I ran the entire race and the running was fun! I came in at 38 minutes, which I was fine with, since I had hip pain after the first 2 minutes of the race. Thankfully, the hip pain didn’t get worse and I was able to ignore it. I even sprinted at the end, which felt amazing!

I started the race last in line, because I planned on going slow – to make sure I could run the whole thing and to delay the hip pain for as long as possible – but I ended up passing about 10 people during it (the ones that got tired and walked – like me at the first race), since I paced myself.

I was really proud of myself for running the entire race, because that was my main goal. As for the hip pain, I have an appointment with a holistic chiropractor for Monday, December 29th, so I’m hoping to get relief soon and be able to run the next race (March 8th) without hip pain 🙂

No pictures of the race this time, since it was at night and the pictures didn’t come out good 😦

I am officially addicted to races and intend on running as many as I can!

Today’s the Big Day 12/19/2014

That’s right…it’s RACE DAY! My second race is tonight. It’s a 5K, and I intend on running the entire thing. I’m just hoping I don’t have too much hip pain during it. I tried running again a few days ago and only made it 3 minutes before I experienced pain 😦

I’m actually looking into getting non-evasive chiropractic services (no back cracking!) for my hip, lower-back, and neck (especially my hip, because I want to keep running!). The person I plan on seeing is a holistic chiropractor and they take most insurances. You can check out their website here if you’re interested. I’m not affiliated with them and I haven’t been to them yet; I’m just really impressed with the services they provide (they even offer nutritional counseling!). My massage therapist referred me to them. She goes to them and she refers her clients to them. She says they’re awesome 🙂

So I’m hoping to get some of my body pains fixed and I believe a chiropractor can do that. At least, I hope so. Massage therapy helps greatly, but some aspects of the body (structural) can’t be fixed by massage. I think the two services will complement each other nicely. I still intend on going for my monthly massages because they’re so helpful!

So I’m mentioning all of this because I get hip pain every time I run and I have a race today. I pre-registered for the race before I realized my hip was injured, so I plan on doing the race anyway.

Lately, in spite of my hip, I’ve been loving running! I’ve actually been mad that my hip has been shortening my runs. Running has been much easier for me, because I’ve gotten over the mental hurdle of thinking that it’s so hard! So now I’m able to run without it being like torture, and because I don’t think it’s so hard, it isn’t so hard anymore. Not just mentally either; my breathing is more controlled and my heart is calmer, all because I changed my outlook on running. What goes on in our minds affects our physical reality!

What changed my outlook on running? Reading up on mental barriers with running, and learning that running is hard for everyone! No one enjoys the act of pounding the pavement; it’s the elated feeling afterwards that is enjoyable (and addicting). Plus, I find that when I get into a rhythm, running provides a natural high. It mellows me out and makes me feel tranquil.

But I only have that “high” while running when I don’t believe running is so hard. I find that I usually start out my runs too fast and it’s laborious, but when I get into a groove (a comfortable pace and frame of mind), I’m golden.

So my goal for today’s race is to start slow so that I find that nice rhythm quicker and easier. Because, honestly, I feel like I’m hyperventilating when I run too fast, because the running appears challenging, so my mind makes it out to be worse than it really is.

A slow start is the way to go. Plus, my hip is injured and I want to run the entire race, so I don’t want to start out fast and burn myself out, and I want to delay the hip pain for as long as possible. I’m going to be putting my theory into practice at today’s race and see if it works.

Wish me luck!

Upcoming Race! 12/15/2014

I’m so excited that I’ll be running another 5K race on Friday, December 19th. My last (first) race was on Thanksgiving morning (November 27th). Shortly after that race, I looked into future races. This one on the 19th is in my home city, so I thought I would do it, since the first race was great!

I’m planning on running all of the races in my city. The next race is in March, which I’m fine with, since I don’t want to run any races in the winter. I don’t like exercising outside in the snow or when it’s really cold. The March one is supposed to be really good. It’s an hour before the city’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade, so it should be a great day!

After the March race is an April one. I haven’t looked any further ahead than that, but I’m sure there will be others.

Back to Friday’s race…I’m a little concerned because I experienced hip pain on my last run. In fact, I think I had hip pain on the run before that too. I took a break from running after the prior run to let my hip heal, and then I caught a cold, so I hadn’t run for over a week until my last run. My hip was healed, or so I thought, so I ran again. But within the first mile of running, my hip started to hurt (sharp pain at the top of my thigh). Normally I would have run for longer, but I didn’t want to cause more damage since I have the race coming up. So I walked for a bit and then tried running again. I didn’t get far the second time. I walked the rest of the 1.5 mile distance that I had planned on running entirely.

I’m very disappointed about my hip pain, especially right before a race. I’m afraid I will have hip pain during the race and won’t be able to run the entire race, which was my goal. I plan on resting my hip (no running) until the race. It should be better by then. Hopefully I will be pain-free throughout the race. Either way, I’m going to do it, because I already pre-registered for it. Regardless, I’m looking forward to it!