I'm not getting any younger....

My runs this week since the half-marathon have been rather uneventful, to my pleasure, but I have been having some hip pain that flares up around mile 4. I have the 10 mile run this Saturday with the LRM Group, so I'm hoping that doesn't interfere. I have decided to get some IT Band Compression straps, maybe that will help. While on the subject, I must give a "shout-out" if you will, to Kim for telling me about them, I didn't know they existed and am excited to try them! The IT Band stretches I have been doing are helping some..

But, alas, that is not the subject of my post today. Yesterday I went to Pilates, thinking that it would really help me to do some more stretching and increase my flexibility, especially when my muscles get tight from running. I used to do Pilates on a regular basis, but I knew that I was nowhere near what I used to be doing. So...I decided to take it very easy and be careful. Well...I don't know if I hurt myself in that class or if I slept in a weird position, but I woke up last night with my neck KILLING me! It was the weirdest pain. I am used to neck stiffness and soreness, since I unfortunately "wear" my stress in neck aches and pains, but I couldn't tell if it was a muscle spasm or a pinched nerve. It felt like a shooting pain that went from my right shoulder, up my neck and the right side of my head...I tried an ice pack and that didn't help much, and finally took some Ibuprofen and was able to rest enough to go back to sleep....Ugh...

I woke up with it still hurting and anytime I lifted anything over 5 lbs. in my right hand, my neck and arm hurt...Geez...Since I don't know the source of how it happened, I'm not sure how to avoid it. Needless to say, I spent the day babying my neck at work and trying to avoid lifting too much, as not not make it worse....I didn't go to my Sculpt class tonight for the same reason. I just found myself thinking..."Man...I can't ever take NOT being in pain for granted again.."

I guess I'm not getting any younger, but I hope that doesn't mean living with this crap for long...