In April I tried to start running. But I had to quit when my "hip pain" and Achilles tendon started bothering me.
A couple of weeks ago I tried to run again. I felt great for the first five minutes or so. I felt much lighter on my feet and I felt like my form was better at first. But then I started to get tired and my form changed. Halfway through the 20 run/walk my hip started bothering me. I finished the second half just walking because I wanted to minimize the damage.
My initial plan was to start out slow and run just one day per week if my body could handle it. The next day my hip was sore, but nothing too terrible. We went hiking that day. The following day my hip was bothering me even more. This continued for most of the next week. It would get better after a couple of days but if we did any walking during the day the ache returned. After a week of this I knew I wouldn't be running again.
This was very frustrating because I really want to start running this fall. I started to pay attention to how I felt while I walk. Last night I noticed that if I contract my lower back muscles and tilt my pelvis back a bit my entire gait feels much more relaxed and natural. I noticed this as we were just getting our grocery shopping started. I decided to focus on this and try to keep pelvis tilted the entire time we were shopping. Sure enough it seemed to make a difference.
Now I'm consciously trying to change my posture. The muscles in my lower back are tender because they aren't used to working this much, but so far I think this might solve some of my troubles. Who knows, maybe my funky gait is what caused my Achilles tendon trouble too.
This is great because I now have some hope that I'll be able to start running soon. I'll report back after I have some time to see if this eliminates my hip pain[1].
[1] Actually it isn't my hip that hurts. Hip problems are felt in the groin. I did feel some pain in my hip in April, but when I say hip pain here what I'm talking about is pain on the outside of my upper thigh.