I am injured, slightly, again.

OK. Maybe a bit more than slightly. My hip. It hurts. I ran three miles this morning, and OUCH. I played golf - nine holes - and OUCH. Weight on it just sucks. If I sit too long, it hurts more. I am about 99.9% certain this is all because I didn't stretch properly the other night after a particularly hard and fast run. I know it. That's when it started hurting, so there you go.

No more. I push myself pretty hard these days, but I am not doing the work I need to keep my body well in recovery. I'm not a kid anymore, and the more time I don't set aside for proper conditioning and stretching and rest, the more likely I am to keep getting these stupid, avoidable injuries. I cannot put myself in permanent traction, but I will if I don't take care of myself.

My promise to myself is to fit in 20 minutes of stretching each day, every day, and get back to Bikram once a week. I have five classes I've already paid for but I haven't taken the time to go and use them. There is no excuse for being this sore all of the time.

Lastly, I thought of something during my run this morning that I didn't add to my list of reasons why I could - and will - kick the crap out of the Danskin Triathlon this year in comparison to my performance five years ago:

4) I no longer smoke.

I can't believe I'd forgotten that back then I was still smoking, an entire pack a day, no less. I remember poor Heather and James looking at me later that night in disbelief as I lit up smoke after smoke. A lot has changed since then, to be sure, but this is probably one of the biggest.

Posted by Erin at 12:16 AM | filed under: Ouch