Hi Ladies,
I ended up doing a hike yesterday with one of the Italy crew, after all, but we didn't go to a trail in NC like we had planned. Instead we went to a state park not far from her house. I'm actually not a fan of that trail because it is full of tree roots sticking up, so you pretty much have to look down most of the time or you risk tripping. We had said that we would hike for a total of one hour (30 mins one way and 30 back), but my friend was stressed about a situation and kind of venting so at the 30 min mark I didn't suggest that we turn around. At the 45 min mark, I did. She is an avid hiker and would have kept going if I hadn't said something.
I honestly felt like I was just barely making it for some of the hike. She's much faster than me, which is good for me because it makes me push myself, but there were some places walking uphill where I was totally out of breath and really struggling. Because she was walking ahead of me and venting as we went along, she had no idea that I was behind her almost in danger of passing out.
At some point we made it to a small bridge and I asked her if we could stop to enjoy the view for a few minutes, and because I needed a break, and that was when she first became aware that I was struggling. She felt bad and asked me why I hadn't said something sooner. I told her it was fine and I was glad to be pushing myself, but yeah, I wasn't having an easy go of it. She slowed down a bit on the return.
So, we walked/hiked for 1 hour and 30 mins and did 4.42 miles total. Later that evening I had this friend and another (2 of the Italy crew) over for dinner and a movie, and ran around tidying up before they arrived, so I made it to over 16,000 steps for the day.
SB - My friend that I hiked with is the one that's having the problem with her sciatica. She's done PT twice and said it is helping (especially since she is following up by doing the prescribed exercises at home). I mentioned your situation and she suggested a couple of things. One, perhaps getting a massage could be helpful if it's not too painful for you because a good massage therapist should be able to pinpoint the source of pain and be able to advise you who to see next for help (her massage therapist told her that she needed PT). And two, she suggested trying dry needling. I don't know much about it (she explained to me how it works and said that it helps a lot when she has a session), but just thought that I would mention it in case you want to look into it.
Penguin - Hope all is well with you!