I have an owie.

I'm hesitant to call it an "injury" because I don't feel like I'm "injured." It's not like I sprained an ankle or cut myself or even got a bruise. I just... hurt.

About a week ago my left hip flexor tendon (the one that helps you raise your leg forward) started hurting. It would bother me when I ran, or when I went snow shoeing, and then for a bit after. Then it started bothering me all the time. I tried to run 4 miles on Wednesday, but could only make it 2. My hip bothered me for the rest of the night and all of the next day.

Like a good girl, I called my doctor. Now I know why people don't do this - they tell you things you don't want to hear. She recommended I ice my hip, take ibuprofen 3-4 times a day to reduce the inflammation, and not run/snowshoe for a week at least. AT LEAST.

In typical me-fashion, I mostly ignored what she said. I took the ibuprofen, I didn't run on Friday like I had originally planned, but I did snowshoe on Saturday. We were out for maybe an hour, on a hill where trails were already broken, and I could feel it long before we got back to the truck. And for most of the rest of the night. The next day, I iced it, took ibuprofen, and cleared my week of running or snowshoeing.

This puts a serious cramp in my training. I mean, I don't want to make it worse - then it would... well, be a worse problem. As of today I have 9 weeks and change before the half-marathon. It seems like a long time, but I'm working up from 4 miles to 13 miles, fighting an "injury" and trying not to injure myself more. My doctor did tell me I could do some weight training, but there's not a lot of exercises I can do that don't involve stressing that tendon. Anything core- or upper-leg-related would stress it. Still, I hope to hit the gym a few times this week and at least do some upper-body and calf exercises just to pass the week and keep my metabolism from completely collapsing.

I'm also hoping to get my doctor to refer me to a Sports Medicine specialist. This issue has plagued me off and on for years now, but it's never been an issue because I've always been able to give it plenty of rest. I'd like to see what I'm doing that might be causing this, and what I can do to avoid it. If you have a recommendation, I'd be happy to hear it. I'm not overly fond of my doctor, so I don't really trust her to send me to the best person.