picking up the pieces

 
It's been just over a week since my Dad passed, shattering my world in the process. While the pieces are still sharp and prickly, I'm starting to pick them up and put them back together. All of my siblings have returned to their respective homes, spread across the country. Monkey Boy is on his way back to Germany. I still ache whenever I think of my Dad, and I'm not yet done crying over his last days, but I am trying to find some semblance of normalcy.

I'm back to working on my parents' house. My mother's house. I'm almost done with her sewing room. When that is done and everything put back in place, half the house will be restored from construction zone to living space. My mother and I are talking about how to proceed and what yet needs to be restored. My brother and I are talking about what maintenance needs to be done. Energizer Bunny has made room in her hectic schedule to help. My mother has lived in a construction zone for the last 8 years or so. I am anxious to give her a light at the end of the tunnel.

I dropped the class I was in. It is the last class I need for my degree. I know Dad would not want to be the cause of any interference in my education, but I was overwhelmed. I couldn't focus with the issues at hand, and could not fathom the idea of catching up on the week of reading and paper writing I missed. I am scheduled to pick it back up on November 1, and will now graduate in mid-December.

I tried picking my training back up yesterday. I ran my fastest 4 miles yet, last Wednesday. I also ran 3 fast miles last Friday. I planned to run at least 4 that day, but stopped when my right buttock started to hurt. Pirifomis Syndrome reared its ugly head. Again.

With that pain and everything else going on, I didn't run again until yesterday. Superman and I headed out for a 10-miler. It wasn't pretty. I hadn't stretched or iced my piriformis. I'd worn heels for several hours both Sunday and Monday. While the pain had receded, I knew heading out the door it had not gone away.

Long story short, the 10 mile run turned into 8 increasingly uncomfortable miles before the pain spread sharply to my hip. I walked for a while, then tried to run another mile before giving it up for good. Today, I started doing the stretches I should have been doing all week.

Do these look familiar? They are the same stretches suggested for Iliotibial Band Syndrome, which sidelined me for several months last winter. Not gonna let that happen again. Nosireebob!

Tomorrow I'm heading to my Mom's to take care of a few small things. Then I hope to stretch and work my piriformis with a swim. I might hop on the treadmill after, but it will be a slow run contingent solely on how my butt feels. No speed, since that appears to be what makes this flare up. I am reminded yet again that I have to take things slow and easy.

Working on healing... in several different ways....