I have a sore hip flexor.

That means there hasn’t been any of this since Tuesday:

//instagram.com/p/scc1HeKzwY

And that makes me sad.

I have read a lot online about this pain and much of the info I see says that it can come from glutes not firing properly. (I could also have a hip fracture or bubonic plague. Because every health search on the internet can lead to the plague.) So I’m stretching and doing more glute strenghtening. In fact, I need to do more strength training in general. I’m sooooooooo bad about implementing it into my life. I let the day-to-day complexities wear me down and I don’t give myself that time. I scratch in time for early morning runs, but I don’t figure in other workouts anymore.

I’ve done the new Strava 26.2 workout on Fitstar twice this week though and I really like it. I think it’s a good counter-balance to all the running and I’m going to make a point to do it twice a week for the next several weeks. I wouldn’t mind trying P90X3, since those workouts are all just a half hour. (And we own it now.) PiYo intrigues me, but I don’t have that. And I’d like to do yoga more. And I’d like to attend Barre classes, and do pilates, and meditate… there aren’t enough hours in the week to do all these things I want!

I’m supposed to run a half marathon a week from tomorrow and I want my hip to feel right for that! But then I also kind of let my mind wander to thinking that if I just skipped it, my life would be so much easier. It would mean that:

• I wouldn’t have to load the kid into the car and travel for a race,
• I wouldn’t have to decide how much of the school day the kiddo will have to miss (I know, she’s only two… she can miss a day. But she loves it and learns so much!),
• I wouldn’t have to pack for two people,
• I wouldn’t have to drive for 2.5-3 hours each way,
• I wouldn’t end up with a kid who is furious after being stuck in a carseat,
• I wouldn’t have decisions to make regarding work events the day before the race…

It would also mean:

• I’d be disappointed. I’ve wanted to do this race again for several years!
• I’d be depriving my kid of the chance to potentially see some cousins.
• I’d be letting myself out of living my own life because I have a child.

I guess I’ll wait until next Thursday to make my final decision. If my hip still feels like it does now, I don’t think it will support me for 13.1 miles. I will try to KT Tape it up and take it out for a run to see how that feels tomorrow morning.

Anyone had hip flexor pain before? How long did it last? What was the issue?