First off, my dog demonstrated a new trick on Father's Day. After spending a few hours at brunch with my in laws, my neighbor rushed over to me literally freaking out. "Jen, did you get my texts?"
"No, sorry. I've been really busy and haven't checked my phone all morning."
"Yeah, well your dog is on the roof. I've been trying to get him down for 3 hours. Every time I go near your house, he freaks and I am worried he is going to fall!"
I thought this was a joke so I just looked at him very blankly. I looked out on the roof. Nope, no dog. My neighbor and I have a pretty light-hearted relationship, so I thought this was a new prank. That's when he whipped out his phone and showed me a series of pictures he flooded my inbox with over the last couple hours. Nope. Not a joke.
My crazy dog suffers from extreme anxiety. Desperately wanting beer and an egg skillet, he launched himself through the window screen and got stuck on the roof.
Monday morning rolled along and after a painful physical therapy appointment I headed out for a three mile run. It didn't go well. I ended up on the side of the trail, wallowing in pain and self-pity, wondering why the heck I am doing this.
Somehow that self-loathing session landed me in the pool on Tuesday where I decided I would buck up and strengthen all the stuff that Kevin swears is broken about me, which I am finding is quite the ledger. I lasted 15 minutes. That stamina was with great thanks to my half-choppy breast stroke. I tried multiple times to glide across the water effortlessly with freestyle techniques, but I would get 3 or 4 paddles through the water before I started choking down water and I inevitably panicked, which of course made me drive my feet downwards. Once I realized I couldn't touch the bottom anymore, I panicked like a drowning chicken. Humiliated, I was well aware of the girl next to me completing lap after lap and all of the parents watching their kids during a swim lesson. So mid-flail I switched back over to the breast stroke with a look of pure insecurity, "Yup. Totally what I was looking for. This is going as planned." I belong on the trails, not in water.
This beached whale doesn't want to return to the pool. However, my groin pain resonates from the hips, therefore I need to work on hip strength and stability and I'm told swimming is the best exercise. Swimming also allows my body the opportunity to increase its aerobic capacities without overworking my legs. My physical therapist promises that once I learn to swim efficiently, the gains in my running will be exponential. So, I am headed to SwimLabs today for my first private lesson. Yes, there will be 3 other classes going on, all with small children. No, I don't have any dignity left.
Speaking of dignity, Kevin (PT) poked the last shreds of it away in the most timely manner this morning. Some days I feel like we are making great progress. The next day I wake up and I am in so much pain that I can't run a few yards. This push and pull is wearing on my spirits so Kevin suggested we make the groin sore today. He wanted me to work for about an hour stressing the area ever so slightly so that when it came time to do his typical massage on the areas, we would know exactly where the pain initiates. Our findings were really interesting. The pain actually ends in the groin. That's only a byproduct. My pain starts along the outer reaches of the gluteus. When he pushed on my glutes, I felt it in the groin.
So, he dry needled my butt today. In 5 places. And my groin. In 2 places. If you've ever had your butt electrified, it truly is an original experience.
~Roadburner
No comments:
Post a Comment