It’s Sunday morning and I’m trying to figure out what I should do today in the way of running. Almost everyday, when I wake up, I wonder when I will run.

The weather is perfect today for a fast long run; cloudy and a little chilly. Although, I considered yesterday also perfect which was cool, breezy, and very sunny. Yesterday, I ran only 10 miles instead of the usual 20. I did this along the Bronx River Pathway by where I live. Its a nice asphalt path and I run from Kensico Dam to Hartsdale and back.

I intended to keep things easy. I’ve been having an odd pain on my left upper pelvic bone, near the very top. Some googling along with the help of Wikipedia allowed me to make an amateur diagnosis. It appears I have a strain of my Tensor fasciae latae. Never heard of it before.

Tensor fasciae latae - how do you injure this?


I can run through this, and have been doing so for the past week. But after running, an hour or so later, the problem seems to be exacerbated. It’s been gradually getting worse. I took Friday off as a result.

So Saturday morning, intending to go running easy proved to be too difficult. Running on fresh legs with a nice cool breeze, crisp air, and plenty of sun, and not the kind of sunshine that causes you to bake, I rationalized doing away with the plan of going easy and convinced myself taking Friday off was enough. I rationalized that I am still only doing 10 today. Tomorrow, the Bronx River Parkway will close to traffic at 10:00am and I will be good enough to do 20 if I can run 10 at this pace.

Then, I would realize, I’m only doing 10 today so I can do 20 tomorrow. I would then become aware of the slight pain on my hip bone and I’d slow it down, knowing that if I felt something now it would only be worse later. Until, I rationalized all the reasons I used for going fast before and I’d pick up the pace.

Half mile splits

Sure enough, later in the day, things were sore again to the touch and I felt it considerably when walking.

So, today, I know I can run. I planned to run 20 on the Bronx River Parkway and I’m trying to rationalize doing it and just keeping things very slow. I’m also wondering if I can get away with doing the type of 20 mile run I want to do at a faster pace. Or should I just run easy and do less distance than planned.

The Yonkers marathon is next Sunday. I do it almost every year as a tune-up for my fall marathon and I’m planning to do it next weekend as well. I’m wondering how I would do at Yonkers if I ran 20 today. Or better yet, how would I do if I skipped the 20 and didn’t run today. And at the moment, I’m still not sure what I’m going to be doing.