For the last several weeks, things on the running front have been really good. I've been running multiple times per week, my distances have been getting longer and most importantly, my hip hasn't hurt at all.


And this is how I feel about it. This picture is from 2017 before any of this hip nonsense started.

I've been having a mini-celebration in my apartment after every run where things have gone well, but I've honestly been too nervous to write about it because I'm so worried I could backslide at any minute. And what if this post is the thing that jinxes it!

Coming back from an injury is hard like that. And for me, this time around has been especially hard because I've had lots of fits and starts.



Last fall, after taking the prednisone, which pretty much completely eliminated my hip pain, I was starting to get back to running, but then I had a little backslide and had to nix it.

I spent the winter focusing on cross-training (lots of swimming and barre classes) to try to help with my muscle imbalances. (If you want a refresher, here's the whole year-long hip saga).

I picked a "come-back race," the annual five-miler I run every year on vacation with my family. I started training for it, and things were going well. The race itself went great and I was so happy with the results. (Mainly that I crossed the finish line feeling good. I wasn't paying attention to time).



But come August and September, my hip was flaring up again for no reason. It was really disheartening.

So I re-evaluated my workout plans again -- trying to figure out what might have been triggering the hip pain and what was actually helping. I wrote about this before, but I think it's really key for me to keep up with my PT exercise/barre classes to help even out all my muscle imbalances.

Maybe I've finally found the magic formula. October was such a great month of running for me. So much so that I'm thinking about races again. I'm trying to get some friends to do a 5K with me in December, and I'm dreaming of running long distances again in 2019.

But there's still the little voice in the back of my mind, reminding me that I could backslide at any time. I'm scared about throwing down money for race entry fees only to register yet-another DNS because of injury.

But I'm also really hopeful that this time will be different. That this will be the time I actually do get back to my old running habits. I'm not ready to call it a comeback just yet, but I'm really hopeful that's what this is.