Hipster

I've had a bit of a frustrating week with hip and lower back pain. It seems I have 3 different options.

1) Try to learn to fix my form and strengthen my calves/feet to run without orthotics.

I'm not entirely sure if I really totally need them. The only real time I tried running without them was in my races and my few days when I was in Philly last year visiting Tom and Billy. Usually I'm fine for a few days and them my knees and feet start to hurt...of course... that could be more because of the back and forth. Maybe if I just worked to get used to running without?????

2) Work out some way to get the old orthotics refurbished. I seem to be able to run as many miles as I want on them. Yes....my feet hurt, and my knees hurt. But it seems more to do with mileage buildup than orthotics. But I could be wrong.

3) Get used to the new orthotics. It could be that it'll just take some time to get used to them.

It seems no matter who I talk to they have some sort of advice as to which of these I should choose. So far both times I've received my orthotics I've ran in them for two days and on both occasions I got horrible hip pain. My feet and knee pain go away pretty instantly with them only to be replaced with this hip problem.

I took Wednesday and Thursday off. I was hoping to run today but my hips are still a bit sore and now I'm tight all over and my back is bothering me.

It's funny how after a few days you don't much care about racing anymore. I just want to get out there and run. Bad form, good form, hurt feet, whatever....just figure out something that will let me run. For now I'll just patiently wait for my body to adjust to these orthotics, threaten people in my work parking lot, and grumble on the internet.