WRD: A Sh*t-ton of Lemonade Available Now!

29 September, 2019 Off By Renée

Hey everyone. Remember me? It’s been, what, 6 or 7 weeks since I last posted. And a lot happened. Some of you know and some of you don’t. So I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

Chicago Marathon Training

Last I wrote, I had made it through 8 weeks of marathon training. It wasn’t perfect (the long runs had been real tough) but I felt like it was going well and wasn’t too stressed about the upcoming long runs. In fact, after I last posted, I had a trip to Helsinki and a Half Marathon there on the books and was really looking forward to that.

So What Happened?

I tweaked something in my back but thought it would sort itself out and it mostly did from the first onset (in week 8). But then it came back with a vengeance.

  • We never made it to Helsinki; I spent the evening prior to departure in Urgent Care instead of packing. Also? My travel insurance never included cancellations for medical or other emergency reasons. So, I threw about EUR 600 into the wind (and trust me, it did not boomerang back)
  • I wasn’t able to lay, sit, stand ,walk; nothing. So I was prescribed diazapam and tramadol to get through the pain, plus I was ordered to go to manual therapy to help me move a bit. I went to a few sessions, plus some severe dry needling and that helped a bit. But mostly it was the worst pain I ever experienced, at least for the first couple of weeks.
  • My birthday rolled around, not a lot of celebrating going on. Quite a few tears that day.
  • A very good friend of mine died, suddenly., a few days after my birthday. She lived near Seattle, so no possible way for me to get to any service for her. This really tipped my sadness level over.
  • Eventually I started moving again, mostly walking (walking, walking, walking) but my muscles were still so sore from the spasms I had at first onset, so sleeping and moving was still kind of rough. Also I stopped all painkillers as soon as possible as I don’t want to have that crap in my body. I finally went back to work after 3 weeks at home (also does nothing for my mood)
  • I had two MRI’s – and the outcome is I have a herniated disc at L1/L2 (which means mostly now my pain is nerve pain and it’s in my groin. SUPER fun. I’ve had one steroid/painkiller shot last week. So it’s early days to know if it helped or not.
  • I think I probably cried every day for 5 weeks straight. I knew I had to make a decision about Chicago.
  • And the decision is… I’ve deferred until next year.

What’s Next

After several appointments with several specialists it has been strongly suggested that I do not run for the next 3 months. That I do other exercise – anything but running or jumping; nothing that can have more compression impact on the spine. I’ve been moping around for a while (with a few activities thrown in here and there) and this past week I finally got some clear guidance from someone. I still feel really sad about Chicago, but we are of course still going since Ron is still running. I *am* going to do the Chicago 5K on Saturday, but not really “running”; more of a walk/jog. That’s my only exception.

Lemonade

how I wanted to react

Look, I know I have a lot to be grateful for. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not the end of me either. My body is already working on healing itself and I have probably less than 20% pain these days (it’s mostly in my groin, as I mentioned). I can’t run Chicago this year but I have a guaranteed entry. for 2020. I can do lots of other things, so I’m finally going to do them. I still don’t feel great emotionally, but that’s a process in itself. Being active, RUNNING is how I cope, how I manage my feelings, how I get over “stuff”, even if temporarily. So I’ll be working on a shift in the coming days, weeks, months… either way it’s time to look forward rather than feel sorry for what I lost.

Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!

I wanted to re-join the weekly run down so I could also get back in touch with my blogger friends – those are the ones who inspire me and also help me to feel like I can get over this. I’m not going to report what I did this past week (it wasn’t much anyway haha!) but I’ve finally planned for next week.

Coming up Next Week

  • Monday – Aquapump (going to try it)
  • Tuesday – RPM (I can bike pretty easily with no pain, physio said to try it) – also have a PT appt
  • Wednesday – Pilates (back at it the last 2 weeks, but had to go back to super basics for now)
  • Thursday – gym (cardio) or another swim class
  • Friday – gym appointment with a trainer to get me restarted on strength
  • Saturday + Sunday – not sure yet, need to see what the weather is like etc. If still fairly decent I would like to try to get out for one more good long bike ride.

To end on a positive note

it’s not all bad, I also got a new kitten. Meet Charlie!

How’ve you been? How’s your training going? Have you ever had a herniated disc? Do you run/ exercise to keep your mind AND body in a good place? Isn’t Charlie the cutest kitty?