I have nothing to say but for some stupid reason feel an obligation to write something on this blog.

It must be because I overexercised and decided to start following a paleo eating regimen (not today but someday...my doctor recommended it because I seem to have IBS...isn't that a blogger thing?...I can't bring myself to further restrict my food beyond my already insanely restrictive bullshit yet).  Though it's more likely because I also took an #asspic today...

blogging ass

I'll try to make this short because I have no gifs to keep you entertained and, since finishing all five of the Game of Thrones books last week, I'm finding life has no spark so this is bound to be boring.

All physical restrictions were lifted by my surgeon on May 19th. (To get you up to speed if you're a new reader, I had a total hip replacement on April 1st). He said that everything looked GREAT and my healing rate was awesome and that my hip would only dislocate if I tried really hard to make it happen. But before you go getting all excited that I get to start running now, he lifted my restrictions because I promised him I was rational and not overzealous. And he believed me. He really doesn't want me to run EVER...except to save my child from an oncoming car or to save my life, etc. But he knows I want to.

He explained to me that the real issue has to do with the body's reaction to the minute particles that are a result of wear and tear on the implant and not so much the device's inherent degradation over time. Bone initially grows into a porous covering on the implant. With use, microscopic particles are sloughed into the body. How the body reacts to this differs from person to person. Some people can more vigorously use their new parts than others. You have no way of knowing how your body will react until the damage is done...or not done. The reaction erodes away the bone growth into the device and things get loose. And then it hurts again. So...yuck.

IF I do decide to run again it won't be for at least 9 months post-op, putting us at New Year's Day. My more conservative self says to give it a full year, but I rarely listen to her much to her dismay.

I have fantasies of running again...just a couple of miles a couple of times a week while cross-training in a hip-safe manner. The fantasy extends to racing again...just once or twice a year. Only 5K. But I'm not content to just putter. That's my biggest problem. If I need to be contained, I would want to test the limits of the container. Like, with a PR. I'm just too fucking competitive.

My hip feels incredible. So incredible that I've already pushed it too hard. What's too hard for me right now? Walking five miles in one day.

It started one morning with 3 hilly trail miles on my old favorite running loop...

nice and shady following the creek.

cresting the super steep hill.

you can see the sunny, downhill part of the trail over on that hill.

this is that line you saw on that hillside in the previous photo.

 RoseRunner and I used to run this trail together and would pretend that we were Hunger Games tributes trying not to get sucked into these giant cracks. #goodtimes

and then it's over :(

It was so fun. I know you want to ask, "so did you try running? even a just a few little joggy steps?"

DUH.

And it was pain-free but super scary.

Then that afternoon I decided to see if I could beat my post-op timed mile PR at the track during my son's soccer practice...

better by 4 seconds.
note the negative splits.

Add 3/4 mile of cool down and assorted drills/exercises and the daily total was up to 4.75 miles.

During our familial evening walk, I realized that I was sore and kind of limping. Shit.

Given that the day before I had done 10 min of recumbent bike, 10 min of stairmaster and 20 min of elliptical and a bunch of leg weights stuff (during my first post-op visit to the gym) I'd have to say that, yep, I overdid it like the kickass running blogger I'm trying to be. #success

I'll stop now. I'm boring myself.

I swear my Instagram is more fun. And you get to see what I look like.

(I'm getting good at baiting people to check out my shit...that's what I just did there...baited you)