It has been over a week now since I have run. I have spent the past week and a half resting my hip, so nothing to report on the exercise front at all. I was hoping that I would only need a 2 week rest before trying a short run, but based on my current discomfort level, I think I will be out of commission for a bit longer than I expected. I start physical therapy tomorrow, so hopefully that will speed my recovery along. In the meantime, I have been trying to keep myself busy so that I don’t go crazy. Which leads me to my list of 10 things to do when you are sidelined with an injury:

1. Netflix/DVR marathon – Makayla has been wanting to watch The Walking Dead so I have taken this opportunity to have some Walking Dead marathons with her. We have almost made it through season 2. I highly recommend Netflix or cleaning out your DVR memory while you are sidelined.
2. (Thanksgiving) recipe search – Thanksgiving dinner will be at my moms house and I am bringing the Sweet Potato Casserole and a pie. I had found a good recipe last year but couldn’t find it again this year. I have had plenty of time to find a good one again. It doesn’t have to be for Thanksgiving though. Any time you are injured is a good time to organize your recipes. Hopefully this leads to successful healthy meal planning as well.
3. Cooking/Baking – When would I have had time to prepare my Sweet Potato Casserole if I was still working out every day?? I may even find time to make a home-made pie. Okay…so yeah, I would have MADE time to make the casserole, but probably not the pie (and there is still go guarantee).
4. Christmas planning – I have found time to start my OCD Christmas planning. My spreadsheet with my list of names and budget is complete. Now I just need to come up with some more gift ideas. I suppose this is a pretty good time of the year to take a break if I am forced to.
5. 2016 Race schedule – I plan to work on this in the upcoming week. It’s time to find some new and exciting races and to compare to Gabby’s swim meet schedule to see which ones I can do. I already know I would like to race the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon in October of next year (sweet medal).
6. Organize and back up photos –Truth be told, I’m pretty OCD when it comes to organizing my photos, but I am not the greatest at backing them up. Time to make that happen!
7. Work on my running play list – One day (hopefully soon), I will be back to running again and nothing is more motivating than having some new kick-butt music on my playlist. And boy am I going to need some motivation when I start again.
8. Swim Meets – I’m starting to run out of things to add to my list so now I’m kind of making stuff up. It’s true that Gabby had to be in Baltimore at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday for a swim meet. But the truth is that I would have gone to her meet regardless of my workout schedule. But having her swim meet sure did help keep me busy and keep my mind off of the fact that I can’t run. I also watched one of my nephew’s football games. This bursitis can slow me down, but it won’t stop me. Any sporting event would be a fun way to pass the time.
9. Visit with family – Yeah, this is another half-true one. Our newest niece (or 1^st cousin twice removed (in law)…something like that) was visiting from Baltimore on Sunday. So after Gabby’s swim meet and a little bit of NFL Sunday time, I went to see her. Again, I would have fit this into my schedule regardless of my long run schedule. But, it definitely took my mind off of running. River is the sweetest little thing. Definitely makes me miss having a baby. I strongly suggest visiting with some family to make your recovery a little less sad.
10. Read a good book. I haven’t read anything new since summer ended and half marathon training picked up. I just haven’t found the time. I plan to curl up with a book in the near future! Does anyone have any good suggestions?

I hope none of you reading this are currently suffering an injury, but if you are or have in the past, I’d love to hear about what you do with the extra time on your hands.