The results are in . . .

Well, it is not a full fracture. It's a stress reaction of my left femur. What the heck does that mean? Oh, I'm so glad you asked because I, too, had no clue. Apparently, stress fractures are more complex than one might think. And some doctors no longer refer to incidents of stress on your bones as a "fracture" and only refer to them as stress reactions unless you have a complete fracture. From my conversation with my doctor I understand it this way: there are three levels of stress related injuries to your bone: stress reactions (swelling of the bone marrow which causes stress to the outer layer of the bone) which then leads to a stress fracture (cracks in the outer layer from the swelling) then a full fracture (more like a splintering of the outer layer of bone). Although I am in the stage of "stress reaction" he said based on the MRI films he feels that I would have advanced to the level of "stress fracture" had I continued for even one more week of running. Damn. Had I followed Dr. A's instructions (which was to do physical therapy on my hip flexor, take a short run to "loosen up" today and then do the 13.1 on Sunday) he feels I would most definitely have come home with a stress fracture.

Okay, so what's the plan? One, no longer follow anything Dr. A said. Two, I take two full weeks off of running and cross-train on anything that does not cause ANY amount of pain to the femur. I'm hoping my plan can be to bike, swim and use the elliptical or do deep water running. In two weeks I can try running 1/4 to 1/2 mile to see how much healing has occurred. If I'm not in pain for a day or two after the run, I can do it again. Then I can begin increasing by 1/2 mile-1 mile at a time based on my pain levels. If I feel pain at all, I back off and then continue from where I was before I increased my mileage.

So, what the hell does that mean for White Lake? Well, here's my plan. I'm racing. Period. I'm going to follow the doctor's orders to a "T" until White Lake. Then, I'm racing -- sure, it won't be fast and it's sure to be a bit painful but I'll finish. I mean, really. It's not like I was planning on winning anyway. If I come home with a stress fracture then I will take 6-8 weeks off of running and I'll still have 6 weeks to ramp up for Timberman. If I don't come home with a stress fracture but find that my healing has been compromised, then I just start over with the slow, short runs while monitoring my pain level. Of course, this "Super Plan" has not been reviewed by my doctor (or by Coach G)!

I'm bummed about the time off from running but I do appreciate that in our efforts to get me seen ASAP, Derek and I accidentally made appointments for me with two different doctors on the same day. And I appreciate that my friend Jenn told me to just go ahead and see both when I told her I was going to cancel one of them. Had that not happened, I would have cancelled my appointment with Dr. B and just seen Dr. A. And, then I would have been in a world of hurt!!

You know, I'm really kinda pissed at Dr. A. See, if I only had gone to Dr. A I would have done the physical therapy thing thinking that I simply had a tight hip flexor. Not only would I have run the Half Marathon this weekend but I would have continued running afterward thinking that my hip flexor was just tight. And, do you know what could happen if a stress fracture of the femur goes untreated and becomes a full-on fracture? Look it up. It's not good. Let me put it this way, 2008 would have been shot. Maybe a lot of 2009, too. And, the more doctors I speak to, the more I've been told that because of the complications associated with a stress fracture of the femur, the industry standard is to get an MRI. X-rays are almost useless unless the stress fracture is very advanced. Shouldn't Dr. A have known this??? Honestly, it pisses me off.

Anyway, at least White Lake's 1/2 is not completely out of the question. I guess I'll just have to be really good about listening to the doctor. That's a challenge for me -- but Derek is here to make sure I don't get all "teenage rebel" about it.

To all you gals running Shamrock this weekend GOOD LUCK!! Run fast and I hope you have a tailwind the entire way! I'll be thinking of you!!! xoxo