waiting ... waiting... waiting...

on MRI results. While my regular Dr rocks for my regular stuff, he kinda sucks a the running stuff... which I should have learned 2 years ago with the 'shin splint' AKA stress fracture. Soooo... on a level of 1-10 on the pain scale, currently the hip/joint/muscle thingy is hitting a constant 7, and that's walking. Great. I called my running doc (thanks Root and Coop) and saw him on Tuesday morning, MRI on Tuesday evening and then of course the darn holiday. So I should have results on Monday. I'm going with the original reg Dr. diagnosis of a groin tear. The running Doc says doubtful. Even though two X-rays were negative (and I pointed that out to running Doc) he said what he thinks it is won't show on an X ray. I'll wait for the MRI to tell...

In the meantime.. I re-programmed my Shuffle for a half marathon. I'm thinkin' I can at least TRY to do it right ????

The running Doc said no running until he can confirm what the issue is. In the meantime, he said I could run in water... hhmmm... isn't that what an every day outside run in Seattle is ? ok.. maybe he meant in a POOL. whatever... I can do the elliptical and the wind trainer without pain, so I'll do that.

On one of my running forums, they had a great topic about what to eat for 'long runs'. Long run is sooo subjective :) my 'long' run was 9.3 miles and I had a protein shake and a tiger's milk bar before, nothing during the run, and an FRS after. HOWEVER... for L ON G E R runs, and even for half marathons when you are all amped up on adrenaline, sometimes you need something more. For me, gels are not my friend. Clif ShotBloks and Sport Beans are awesome, but probably not the most natural substance to put in your belly. Some of the suggestions on the forum for more natural things included:

dried pineapple

dried apricots

fruit leather

raisins

fig newtons

small packets of honey

wheat thins

peanut butter pretzels (my sister tried this out a few weeks ago and they worked great!)

For sheer convenience, if you want to stick with a gel, try the Hammer Gels. They tend to not have so many odd chemical ingredients.

And of course, you should not be trying these things out on actual race day :)

Here's to a week to Vegas, hoping for a good MRI.

Keep working gang !!!!!