My poor booty...

....yes thats right, this post is all about my bum.
I should be more specific, my gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and of course my poor piriformis.  Don't get me wrong, I knew I wouldn't be getting to the top of the mountain without any pain, but I wasn't expecting pain so early...and certainly not in my bum!
It all started a few PT sessions ago when The Riddall Effect started a chain of events leading to tonight.  Caroline my personal trainer was putting me through my paces and gave me some exercises for my glutes, she said that my glutes were essential muscles to get me up Kilimanjaro.  As she is a professional, an expert and my friend (but not my bums friends at this point!) I took her advice and imagined how I would feel at the summit of Kilimanjaro with a booty to rival Beyonce's.
On Saturday I went to see another friend, Sarah, who had recently started an "advanced clinical massage" course - sounds lovely right.  Sarah is currently thinking of joining me on the climb so as we were talking about training I was telling her about how my bum was in training, and she suggested she tried out her new skills on said bum muscles to make sure they were loose and flexible.  Oh. My. Actual. Goodness.
Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely massage, but boy did I need it!  I had the tightest bum in Berkshire.  The trigger points were the only sort bits, and whilst I clearly needed it - I now have little fingerprint shaped bruises all over both cheeks.  Ow.  Thank goodness for foam rollers, although even that made me weep a little for a few days after.

This is me volunteering at the Elephant Nature park in Thailand - the elephant had just 'let one off' in my face, it was so powerful it actually blew my hair off my face!  But my bum will never be as big (or windy) as hers.

Wednesday was the return of PT - I dutifully told Caroline about my bruised bottom and how my glutes were 'a little tight & tender' after my massage.  So she kindly proceeded to spend 20 minutes working on my bum, my poor poor bum.  Now it was bruised and stiff and was today still recovering from the traumas of the week - the stretching and rolling is helping a little.
Tonight was Fight Klub and I was quite relaxed about it as it involves little effort for the bum and is mainly upper body work.
Oh. My. Flipping. Goodness.
Duane & Darren decided that plain old boxing wasn't enough...we were going to do some kick boxing.  Front kicks, side kicks, back kicks, high kicks, low kicks....you get the idea....any leg movement that is done by using your glutes. I was managing to kick about one meter off the floor and Duane (bless his little cottons) kept coming up and shouting "higher!" at me.  I tried, I really tried.
I would like to say thank you very much to Caroline, Sarah, Duane & Darren as they help me get in shape. Joking aside I do appreciate their support and I know that "no pain, no gain".  But right now I just needed to let people know that I HAVE A MASSIVE PAIN IN MY ARSE!!
I'm off to cry on the foam roller......