Aches and Pains

Since I have begun this jogging thing I have never felt so fit, or old! Every run has the inevitable repercussion of the aches and pains of using muscles that haven't been used in years...or ever before.  I believe that all new runners suffer with something, sore knees, heels, aching gluts or quads. In my case it's the hip flexors. After a major , or even a minor, jog there lives two sharp points of pain just where you put your hands on your hips before you tell someone off. Two burning balls that make me groan and wince when I get up from a chair or bed or walk from the kitchen to the living room. The next day after first few runs the ache was unbearable. I felt hobbled and crept around for a couple of days. Despite the pain I would push on and run the next day and the next. I have learned that I cannot do this to my body, it isn't happy being tortured. Instead, if I do a long run, then I give myself 2 days between runs. I will walk or bike instead. This way, by the next opportunity I have to lace up the shoes, my hips feel better and I can run without feeling like I am going to die. Slowing the pace down felt, at first, like failure. Now I realize that IF I respect my body's capabilities it will take me farther.