My first run back in almost a week and I didn't die

Not bad for almost a week off.

After not running for six days, today was the day to see if the rest had done anything good for my cranky low back/hip/SI joint.

To be honest, I was a little nervous. What if it still hurt? So I procrastinated, fueled smartly with a half a family-sized bag of potato chips, and headed out between rain storms.

And it was OK. The area got a little more cranky as I kept running, but I never felt like I had to alter my gait and I was never in pain. I kept a decent-for-me easy run pace, about as much as I could hope for after most of the week off. I'm walking around OK later this evening, but the true test will be how I feel tomorrow, I think.

I've spent the last few days stretching my hips and lower back and doing some movements I found on a random yet very helpful Canadian dance site. (I danced ballet for 10 years as a kid so this brought back fond memories!) If anything, this has taught me that I NEED TO STRETCH. I am very bad at putting off stretching and these last weeks and months I ramped up my mileage and not my stretching. BAD, BAD, BAD. Assuming I can get back to normal soon, I will be building stretching and yoga time into my weekly routine, no exceptions -- even if it means cutting short a run or two.

Fingers crossed that I am better by race day. Less than four days and counting.