I’ve finally decided to go to the doctor and get my hip checked out. As you know, I ran on it when I shouldn’t have. I rested it. I tried again. It still bothers me—from discomfort at first, and eventually to pain.

It feels great for the first couple of miles, but like clockwork, when the 3rd mile rolls around, so does the pain. Once the pain is there, it hurts more to run downhill, but it hurts less if I pick up the pace. In fact, some of my best “kick” training has come since the hip injury.

In the two plus weeks since it first started bothering me, I went from not being able to stay on the elliptical for more than 5 minutes, before my hip started hurting, to being able to do a hard 20-30 minutes with no pain or discomfort. That gave me hope for my most recent test run, which was Saturday—after 3 days of no running. But it wasn’t meant to be.

As usual, in the third mile, the discomfort set in, eventually turning to pain, and forcing me to walk mile 4. The funny thing is, by the end of mile 4, the pain had subsided enough for me to try running easy again for a quarter mile, and then eventually running at a sub-8:00/mile pace for the next 3/4 mile. While there was discomfort after my run, I was shooting hoops later that afternoon. I am sure I should've just stopped in mile 3. So frustrating.

The appointment with the doctor is at noon today. Hopefully I’ll know something. At this point, anything is better than continued not knowing. I’ve got my training log ready for him, and I am prepared to stop running now, if that means I’ll be able to resume training in time for the half marathon in November.