Thankful.

So after my little backisode yesterday, I was hoping a good night’s sleep would be the key to feeling better.  Well, that was a nice thought but didn’t quite work out that way  I ended up still being in pain today so made an appointment to see the doctor to make sure it was not anything serious.  After making me do some weird moves and explaining things, she determined it was just a muscular strain so nothing serious at all but still annoying!  I am now taking some muscle relaxers and have some stretches to work on so hopefully this time next week, this will be a distance memory!  I am seriously considering starting to see a chiropractor on a regular basis to hopefully avoid future back issues though…

Still not sure if I will be able to go to work tomorrow because it’s not always safe to drive on these meds but she said to see how I do.  I am currently feeling a bit weird and my fingers seem to be unconnected to my brain as I keep typing words I am not meaning to type… oops!

I am still mourning the fact that I will not get to do my long run this weekend but hopefully I am at least feeling good enough for a long walk to loosen my muscles up.  I am seriously going to go into exercise withdrawal… I can’t remember the last time I had two rest days in a row!!!  Stir crazy!  And hopefully the meds make me drowsy enough that I can still sleep at night  So annoying!

Hopefully the next post I do will be a happy “I am running again” post instead of a “I am insanely jealous of every runner I drive past” type of post.  So frustrated right now!  But at the same time very thankful that it was nothing serious and also that work is exceptionally slow right now so I am not missed at all and would probably be sitting at my desk with nothing to do these two days anyways.  So anyways, I’ll be sitting here, thinking happy back thoughts!!

Question: Anyone out there routinely visit a chiropractor?  Thoughts on that?

Yet Again.

I’m out of commission… this is getting really old.  It feels like I have been at work like half the days I should have because of various ailments and vacations in 2012.  This year is already off to a rough start and I am only 25 days in!!!

And this time what did I do you might ask?  Hurt my back.  Like I cannot actually stand up straight right now  I really don’t know how I managed this but this morning I got up, felt fine, went for a good run, got back, started feeling like my back was tired but didn’t think much of it and drove to work.  By the time I got to work and got out of my car to walk in, I realized something was not good.  As in, I could not stand up straight nor walk right.  Excellent.

I ended up going home from work because I literally could not walk down the hall to use the restroom or even really move out of my chair.  I was seriously freaked out by the whole ordeal and really did not like the claustrophobic feeling I was getting by my inability to move.  Once I finally got home, I applied an Icy Hot patch and sat against a heating pad the rest of the night.  Exciting.

This “injury” could not come at a more depressing time.  This weekend I was scheduled to run my first 16 mile run.  16 miles was the distance I could never conquer last time I was training for a marathon and here I am, yet again, unable to go this distance.  Seriously, what did I do to wind up in this place, yet again?  Thankfully, this issue is still plenty of weeks before my marathon but it still freaks me out…because what if there is a “next time”?

At times like this, I always get all crabby and anti-running and find myself wondering why I even bother going after my goals because something ALWAYS comes up to get in my way.  Forgive my momentary rant here but I feel like I really don’t ask for much in life and really don’t have that many hobbies that I enjoy and yet I still can’t even manage to fully enjoy running as my hobby because of stupid thing like this!  I realize that this is temporary (hopefully) and will soon be a distant memory like my IT Band issue awhile back but still it frustrates me to no end!  I just get so stir crazy with the thought of not being able to run or exercise like I am used to!  Gah!

I’ve put this in posts before but for some reason, I always need to re-read it when I get injured to remind my future healthy running self to never take a run for granted!

I am a runner.  And without running, I feel like I’m missing something important in my life.  And I don’t like how that feels…

Dear Back,

Please get better soon.  I promise to always stretch right and foam roll to keep you from getting over worked in the future.  I promise to work towards having better posture.  I promise to do more lower back exercises to keep you stronger.  I will consider finding a chiropractor to keep you aligned.  So please, please, please, let me be able to stand up straight soon.

Thanks,

One Discouraged Runner.

One Wish Wednesday No. 4

So it’s been about a month since things around here would qualify as “normal”.  It has been a constant stream of getting ready for vacation, pack for vacation, go on vacation, get back from vacation, recover from vacation, get ready for Thanksgiving, have Thanksgiving, recover from Thanksgiving!  And now, November is pretty much over and that makes me very sad  Yes, I love the Christmas season and December is a pretty good month too but I am just not ready for cold and snow… but to be honest, I doubt I would ever be ready for that…

I remember as a kid being super anxious about having a white Christmas, like if it did not snow, I felt we got robbed of something very important.  Now, I will gladly take a Christmas that is 57 degrees and sunny.  Just sayin’!  And no, that is not my wish for this week number 4 (technically more like week 8 but since I skipped a whole lot of those weeks, let’s just go with 4…) my wish for this week is something else…

I really wish this stupid IT band pain I have had the last three days would go away!  Sometime on Monday morning when I was running, I got a weird twing in my hip/thigh muscle.  I stretched it out and it seemed like it went away but then later in the morning, when I went to stand up and move from my desk, it was terribly painful.  Like I was not sure I was going to make it down the hall… Well, I iced that stupid hip, stretched it some more, took a fair number of Ibuprofen and have been trying to take it easy and as of now, it is feeling much better.  I am still hesitant to run on it but hopefully by Saturday, I will be ready for a 7ish mile training run.  Probably going to be a slow one…

This is a semi-compound wish if those are allowed and the second half of my wish this week is that I would never take a run for granted when I complete it pain free.  I think I am sometimes making myself go for a run because I know it is good for me but as soon as that option is taken away from me, I realize I really love running and miss the quality alone time in the morning where I can just listen to my music and do a little run before work.  I also feel like this helps me feel better throughout the day as well so I have been missing this the last three days!  Hopefully another few resting days is all it takes to be completely on the mend this time.  I realize sometime I might hurt myself more than just a few day recovery and therefore need to always remember how important it is to stretch, rest and be careful!  Hopefully I can have another 20+ years of injury free running!