Oh, and another thing

So I went for a run on Sunday:

Not a great time for a half-marathon, but I was glad to get in under two hours. Next time, I'll have done more training.

Boom

Now I know I shouldn't be too full of bravado but yesterday was a very nice surprise:

I'm really hoping whatever damage I did to my hip has resolved itself. This means I could still, *just*, be on for my half-marathon in March.

Maybe.

Runner's Hip

What is this hip pain?

So nearly 4 weeks ago I was finishing up a 6 mile run and there was a sudden, sharp pain in superior lateral aspect of my thigh, which made walking so painful I figured I'd pushed myself a little too hard and I had a few days of hobbling.

Like I say, 4 weeks ago.

TFL to its friends

I carried on hobbling and stopped running and felt annoyed. It got slightly better after a couple of weeks, but one running session took me right back to square one. So, off I went to the GP, running through SOCRATES in my head:

S - Site - Superficial to the greater trochanter

O - Onset - 4 weeks ago

C - Characteristics - Hurts when I run, not much else

R - Radiation - Nope

A - Alleviation - Not running (!)

T - Timing - Uh, no

E - Exacerbating factors - Again, running/ not running

S - 2 normally, 8 running

My GP went through a range of motions with me, poked and prodded and said "You've damaged a muscle". Indeed. As it wasn't constant and didn't limit my range of motion, we could rule out any joint damage or ligament-related hilarity, thankfully. Nope, the culprit is Tensor fasciae latae. So now I'm taking a further 2 weeks off running and chowing down Naproxen 500mg BD in a bid to tell my body to calm the eff down with the immune response already. In general my GP was against the idea of running "Swimming, yes. Cycling, yes, Rowing, yes. Running? No, no, too much impact", but I think that was idealogical rather than lifestyle advice!

This medicine thing takes a lot of time

In space, no-one can hear you be a massive nerd

I can't believe it's taken this long to find the time to do another post. Even worse, I can't think of a cohesive topic for a Friday night, so I (and subsequently, you) will have to make do.

Here's some thoughts:

1) I'm pulling 8 hours a day, a couple of hours in the evening and I don't think this is going ever let up. I'm not complaining, just sayin' is all. I'm balancing it out by knowing that you have to make sacrifices to get what you want. And any time I feel I'm a bit stressed by it all, I watch a little Randy Pausch and get a bit of perspective and a renewed eagerness to work harder.

2) My uni seems to think that one lecture on pharmacology per quarter is acceptable, but we have 3 comms sessions a week. This is the kind of thing I'm just going to have to address with a "suck it up and walk it off" mentality. I can't change it - we've had an opportunity for feedback, but I don't feel like The Man really wants to address this kind of thing. Whatever, I'll play the game, pass the tests and try and do more individual learning to make up for this.

3) Channel 4 do a good line in getting Britons to show off their embarrassing bodies. (Apologies to people who 

4) This week was a good week. I felt like I was on top of things for the first time in a long while. With PBL it seems very easy to cover just the Learning Objectives your group agrees on and not go much deeper. Then you rock up to the next PBL session and realise that other people have pulled out the lead a bit more than you and have gone deeper. Then you feel stupid and lazy and it means you feel at a deficit for the next round.

This week, however, I went deep enough and really nailed the issues we discussed in group. I feel more comfortable with the menstrual cycle than I have done for aaaaages. I feel like learned a lot and had plenty of positive input in the group sessions. My group of friends is getting tighter, too, which is awesome. I'm hitting the gym with one of my PBL homies on a regular basis and really lifting weights, on top of my prep for the Hastings Half-Marathon - so that's all good.

5) I may have also reactivated my EveOnline account. I'm not going to apologise - I need to indulge my nerd a bit and if by playing at being a spaceman every now and then, so be it!