“Some weeks are just better than others…”

This is something my wife just reiterated to me.

I didn’t realize traveling would be so hard on my exercise plan…because let’s face it, I don’t want to consider exercise being hard on my traveling. I did a run this morning, and while I was still happy that I did the requisite 3 minute intervals, the course was not as long as I hoped. However, I guess I shouldn’t be too upset because I’m about to make a pivotal turn in my Couch-to-5k training. I’m starting week four (week five for me since I repeated a week) on Wednesday and am about to kick up the running time. I am truly excited for this…call me crazy, but I just can’t wait.

My diet has been crap, and I should have done better in planning ahead while traveling. The past few days will surely incur the wrath of my coach when I call him. He’s maybe 5′7″ tall and lives in Salt Lake City, but the distance is the only cushion…that fire of his will definitely burn through the phone line.  But I deserve it…it’s a lesson learned, and I’ll need to do better in the future.

My back seems to be improving. It’s still sore when I’m sedentary or immobile, but seems to be fine when I walk, or even run. My father-in-law and I went to Massage Envy the other night and I greatly underestimated my therapist. She found all the right spots…nearly killed me, in the process, but I think it helped.

Friends, can I just tell you how great I feel despite all of this? Sure, I have complaints, but this is the best I’ve felt in a very long time. I am still flabbergasted that five weeks later, I’m still here, and I’m still doing it. I can actually see a difference in my body. My belly is shape-shifting, my man-boobs are shrinking, and I think I’m slowly going back to one chin. I run in the mornings and see people who smile and say “Good Morning.” This is the opposite, in fact, of a bad dream I had where I was running down the street with people pointing and laughing and making some really horrible remarks.  Eh. If it happens, they can say what they want. I’m doing this to make a better me.

It’s been hard for me to say this, but whether one agrees with me or not, if one perceives something differently, regardless, I can now categorically state:

I am a runner.

A miracle? Well, probably not…

So, I did, in fact, wake up this morning and my back felt significantly better. There was still some pain, but I am doubting any trouble with the disc. Truth is, really, I don’t know.

I decided to go ahead and at least walk to get some exercise in. The new shoes felt great and so did my back, so I decided to run. Todays intervals required two repetitions of 90s run/90s walk/3 min. run/3 min. walk — and I DID IT! I actually managed to run for three minutes straight for both intervals.  I was floored.  Maybe it was the fact that most of my course was flat, or that it wasn’t as humid as normal (though we got a nice monsoon storm here in Arizona last night). Regardless, I did it, and I’m quite happy…not to mention I recorded my best pace so far at 14:28.

I cooled down a bit and sat and rested for a while in the living room. After about a half hour, I stood up.

Ouch.

My back hurt again. So, now I’m stymied at how I managed to run without pain.  Was it a good thing? Or should I wait until my back is indeed healed? Either way…I’m taking it slow over the weekend and am going to hopefully get some good pool time!

Greetings from the Desert

Friends…I think I may have injured myself again…

A few years ago, I was the unfortunate recipient of a herniated disc in my back.  It was horrible. I was trying yoga with my wife (and have never tried it since). I saw my regular doctor, plus a chiropractor for months to get it back in order. This, you can assume, is not pleasing to me.

What makes it more unnerving is the fact that I have no idea how I triggered it. My wife and I spent the night in a motel in Atlanta last night since we had a super early flight. I woke up this morning and I was in pain.

No golfing with my brother- and father-in-law, and perhaps no running. OK, crap, probably no running. My only saving grace is the fact that my dad has a pool, my mom has a pool, and my in-laws that I’m seeing for the next few days have pools.

I guess I’m in for a lot of water aerobics.

I’m going to pray for a miracle that the pain is gone tomorrow. I’m a realist, I know it probably won’t happen, but I’m saying that prayer anyway!