<p>Sorry to hear about the fracture, MOWC. I shattered an ankle hiking (long time ago) and the way I got through 6 weeks on crutches was to get a large calendar and x-out each day. It was a good visual and helped me get through it all. I agree that crutches are a huge pain. The only good news is that you will build up your arm muscles. Good luck.</p>
<p>That’s a bummer for sure, MOWC. :(</p>
<p>I wanted to learn more about this, and found this page interesting, maybe others will as well: <a href=“The management of sacral stress fractures: current concepts - PMC”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3279068/</a></p>
<p>“Conservative management usually forces patients to stay in bed for 3–6 months, which may increase to a year in the case of poor bone healing.” Wow, that would suck.</p>
<p>So sorry, MOWC! I’m just glad you had the MRI. Come here and whine (wine?) away. Can you take a break from work? I’m inclined to agree with BB that perhaps sitting may be contributing to your discomfort.</p>
<p>PlantMom- I am curious to hear what others think re: your query. I have my copy of the book but haven’t had a chance to crack it yet.</p>
<p>Ouch. No wonder you’ve been in such pain… At least they figured it out. You could have gone on for weeks and weeks with no improvement. Now, there’s a plan.</p>
<p>Your conditioning will be fine. Even if you have to build back up, it’s not like you have any choice. You may find that complete rest for a month and you bounce back stronger than than you’ve been. </p>
<p>Hiking for me today, taking advantage of a perfect day weather wise. Blue sky, low to mid 60s. More later.</p>
<p>Plantmom, more later on diet, too. I’ve got to make a humongous dinner salad…</p>
<p>Thanks, notrichenough. That’s good info. There have been a bunch of studies on women athletes re: this injury, too.
Sabaray- No possible chance of a break from work, nor would I want one. I’ll manage. It was much worse in 2007 when I was on the crutches with a brace for 12 weeks and worked downtown so had to navigate parking garage etc. My situation isn’t all that bad here. </p>
<p>I was just reading the same Pubmed article and decided against postings the link since it could have freaked MOfWC even further. So 6 weeks is a bargain! :)</p>
<p>Apparently, Kara Goucher had it!</p>
<p><a href=“A surprise, new accessory, and a change of plans. | Kara Goucher”>http://www.karagoucher.com/a-surprise-new-accessory-and-a-change-of-plans/</a></p>
<p>Plantmom:</p>
<p>I don’t think eating a lot of saturated fat has any particular health benefit. It’s just that it doesn’t have any particular negative health impact.</p>
<p>It certainly seem possible (albeit difficult) to eat a healthy low fat diet. The kicker is that it generally has to be very low calorie. You can’t replace the fat with a ton of extra carbs, so it ends up being fewer calories than a lot of people can sustain.</p>
<p>The weatherman evened the score after sucker punching me last week. Today’s partly sunny turned into a spectacular day. Blue sky, temps in the low to mid 60s. Nice breeze. Trees budding. Awesome.</p>
<p>I revisited one of the first hikes I didn back in summer 2012. Hedgehog Mountain, a small mountain on the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains. It’s one mountain, but it has two distinct peaks, so this a 5.7 mile loop with a about 1675 of cumulative elevation gain. It was a lot easier today than it two years ago. I hiked it 30 minutes quicker.</p>
<p>Really interesting hike. Lots of varied, fun terrain. Roots, rocks. Some ups and downs. Constantly popping out on rock ledge outcrops with great views.</p>
<p>Ran into Steve Smith, Editor of the Appalachian Mountain Club Guide to the White Mountains sunning on a rock ledge and watching hawks fly. A buddy of his was busy with an axe and a saw clearing a tree. Beautifully maintained trail.</p>
<p>This SuperStarch is definitely working as advertised. Steady fuel. I’m still tired at the end of 4.5 hours of hiking, but not out of gas at all. It feels like I’ve got about the same energy at the beginning, middle, and end of the hike.</p>
<p>Here’s the YouTube:</p>
<p>[UNH</a> Trail: Hedgehog Mountain](<a href=“Hedgehog Hike - YouTube”>Hedgehog Hike - YouTube)</p>
<p>Looks like a beautiful trail, idad!</p>
<p>MomWC…glad you have a dx and a plan. I was beginning to suspect something along this line based on the activity-aggravation you were reporting of the condition…but your prognosis is much better than the imaginary sacral bone spur I was worried was locking up the channel so I’m glad I kept my mouth shut :)</p>
<p>Your muscles in the area are clearly freaking out so anything you can do to relax them should help reduce your pain. I know the inactivity will be tough for you, but why not try an experiment where you sit quietly in a meditative state (once pain is managed) and VISUALIZE your daily runs. It would be interesting to see if such an exercise helped maintain your conditioning. I have a hunch based on some of the recent research that it might ;)</p>
<p>At any rate,sending you lots of healing mojo now that we know where to focus the beam :)</p>
<p>MoWC, I’m sorry to hear your bad news. But you will be back, you are strong & determined! I hope the pain starts to diminish soon.</p>
<p>My family took a family vacation without me for a couple of days this week (what is up with that?! It was a last minute decision and I couldn’t get away from work…). They were at our cottage in a very rural but picturesque area of Canada along the Lake Huron shoreline - a few adorable quaint villages near the water. I got a call from my D yesterday - they were in a fun little thrift shop we often visit - “Mom! There’s a pair of Lulu running shorts here just your size - only $9.95!” They bought them for me! </p>
<p>Had to laugh that my first pair of Lulu’s came from this tiny little shop in a tiny little village on a remote shore of another country!!! They fit and are comfy so it’s good by me!</p>
<p>Love that price, abasket! For Mother’s Day, D got me two wonderful pairs of socks that I never would have paid the price they want for them before. Now I’ve built them into the budget because they make such a difference on long runs. </p>
<p>Thinking of you, MOfWC! Really, really sucks to be on the injured bench. So sorry you have to deal with another monkey wrench. I know you cant run now - but may be you can come here while you heal and coach us as we train along for whatever next races we’ll run? Your running wisdom is so deep and so appreciated! </p>
<p>Abasket - love your Lulu shorts story! Maybe they can find a pair of Broooks Pure shorts there next? ;)</p>
<p>A diagnosis is always so helpful MOWC, even if it’s not what you want to hear. You are so strong MOWC. I know that your determination and discipline will keep you going and your great conditioning will help you to heal quickly and get back to exercising as soon as the docs give you the go ahead. I think being sidelined is especially difficult for athletes like you. </p>
<p>I hope you will find other things to fill your time. I know you will be back sooner than you can imagine and you will be strong!!!</p>
<p>I don’t think @teriwtt has checked in in a while, unless I missed it… hope her recovery is going well.</p>
<p>And today is now one day done of that 4 weeks. </p>
<p>Plain and simple, it sucks now. Use the time to reinvent a fitness plan or wish list for you. Just as wish lists go, have some realistic and some dream items. Think of it as safeties, matches and reaches. :)</p>
<p>The older I get, the more I agree with Damon Runyon, that “life is 6-4 against, which is just interesting enough to keep us in the game”…</p>
<p>So after a month of running a marathon at a sprinter’s pace at work, and being so tired it was impossible to exercise regularly, I figured this week I would get back into it…so Tuesday night was the first night I was able to do my regular routine of body weight exercises…and then the work monster got me…Weds night I was at work in NYC until 9pm, got home at 10:30 (hadn’t eaten dinner), so there went that day…and then on Thursday (last night), had another long day, finished working at 9:30 (though was home at least), but was too tired and sick to even think of exercising…and because I missed a couple of days, my muscles tightened up…<em>grr</em>. </p>
<p>The only saving grace over the last month or so is I have been eating my generally healthy diet, and even with all the stress and long hours, have not slipped into a pattern of eating comfort food (outside the regularly scheduled “cheat meals” that aren’t even really cheat meals), so I haven’t been putting on weight…another blessing, I didn’t kill anyone telling me to get up early to exercise (with my work pattern, I am not going to bed at 9 at night, so getting up at 5am would leave me living on 4 or 5 hours of sleep…),or that “you can always make time, rather than watch tv, exercise” (hint, I don’t watch much tv, other than maybe having a ballgame on in the background while I am busy working from home)…</p>
<p><em>rant off</em>…I am not giving up, of course, the real life version of my avatar who lives in my backyard already gives me heck for not looking as good as him, so have to keep trying:)</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the support. I had forgotten what a complete pain in the ass (pun intended) the crutches are. Mine are very similar to these. <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Underarm-Crutch-ergonomic-spring-loaded/dp/B000V4IY12”>http://www.amazon.com/Underarm-Crutch-ergonomic-spring-loaded/dp/B000V4IY12</a></p>
<p>My palms feel tender (not pressure-more abrasion) already and I’m only a few hours into it. I have to figure out how to carry my stuff around the office. I thought one of those Lulu (free) bags would work, but it flopped off of the crutch handle immediately. I can’t carry my normal purse. I had to crutch over the 128 pound Golden Retriever to go to the bathroom in the night since he sleeps on the tile right in the entry to the bathroom. A nice touch.</p>
<p>Yes, I am glad to have a diagnosis and I’m glad it’s not one of the mysterious tendon or muscle things that seems to never resolve. </p>
<p>Yay on the cheap LuLu shorts! I don’t think there is anything for sale in an actual Lulu store for that price- not even socks!</p>