Hot Chocolate 15k!

So for years I've had hamstring pain. I always figured I had an old strain, but oddly enough, the only time I  felt it was when I ran. About 2 miles in, I'd get a burning pain with each stride. If I tried to run through it, I'd be crippled for days. Sometimes it was awful. Sometimes it would ease up for months and I could run a little. Mostly it was frustrating.
So what did I do? Well, I stopped running. It was a blessing in disguise. I got into spinning, and then taught spin. I enjoyed weight-lifting, did p90X, and even taught boot camp and body tone classes. I discovered I loved kickboxing. I got a road bike, and got obsessed with said road bike.

Well, then some of my cycling friends signed up to do a 15k. I hated that I couldn't do it. It drove me nuts watching their facebook posts about their training runs. So I decided to see a sports medicine specialist. I have great insurance, so why not?
In retrospect, it's so obvious I didn't have a hamstring injury. I wouldn't be able to do any of my fave activities with a hamstring strain. Turns out I have a compressed disc, which can cause pain radiating down your leg. Lucky me. I can't believe I've had this for over 5 years. But it's an easy, albeit long-term, kind of fix.

With some physical therapy sessions and daily at-home exercises, I've gotten myself up to 8.4 miles. And that was a hard 8.4 miles. Like, dodging cars and running through ditches because there's no sidewalk for 8.4 miles. So I think I'm golden for 9 miles at a chatty jog.

Soo...drumroll...this weekend is my big debut:

Bring it!