This must be what it feels like to be 80

Last weekend, I noticed my right leg was sore right at the top, kind of near my hip on my lower, lower back. I didn't know what the deal was, but it felt very uncomfortable. It went away sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. I didn't exactly realize when it left, but I definitely was aware of the moment it returned.

Last night, I was having dinner with one of my best friends, who was in Dallas from Norman, shopping with her boyfriend. We were sitting outside having drinks, and I'd had my legs crossed for a while. I started to feel the sharpness again near my hip, around the gluteal area. I got up to use the restroom, and I was surprised how hard and painful it was to make the short walk.

I mentioned something about it to my friend, who is a dance teacher and has danced almost as long as she could walk. She told me she had experienced that before too. "Your muscle is probably inflamed," she said. I couldn't understand what I could have done to make that happen. She asked if I'd gone running. "No," I said -- and then I remembered I'd done leg workouts on Tuesday.

I'd gotten to the gym late -- about 9:30 -- so I wanted to get my workout finished quickly. I did seven different leg exercises, and I did three sets of at least 12 on each. I gave myself very little rest time between sets. I wanted to get a bit of a cardio workout too, and I wanted to speed my workout up so I could leave at a decent time. Needless to say, my legs were tired pretty quickly, so I didn't even do cardio that night. I was afraid I'd fall off the elliptical, given my luck on treadmills when I'm feeling fine.

Then, I realized I did run last week. I had decided to spice up my cardio time a bit by running for awhile on the treadmill instead of the elliptical. That explained my original problem on Sunday.

Today, though, made Sunday seem like nothing. It was incredibly difficult to walk. I had to sit down and slowly stretch my arms to my feet to put on the right leg of my pants this morning!

Getting down the stairs to my parking lot was especially fun. I loved clutching onto the germy handrail like my life depended on it (it probably did). Climbing into my car was quite a feat as well. I had to grab onto anything and everything to do it, and it was a very painful process. I considered just working from home today, but I decided I'd tough it out -- especially since I'd already gone through all that to get into my car!

I'm normally a fast walker, but today was pathetic. My posture was undoubtedly terrible. I had to lean forward slightly to be able to walk, and my shoulders were hunched forward because I was constantly grimacing with every move. I was worried what people in the office who didn't know what was wrong would think. I had to have looked like a freak.

One of my coworkers teased me that she was going to get me a cane. I needed it.

Here's hoping tomorrow it's easier to get around. And here's also hoping I've finally learned my lesson that maybe I'm just not meant to go near the treadmills.