Thursday, March 17, 2011

Oh, My Aching ______

“The better you ride, the harder you fall. Beginners fall off. Good riders get launched.” ~ Jean White, advising all riders to wear helmets.
I found this quote on The Barb Wire (may I just say that this woman leads the life I think I might have led if I had gone down a slightly different path). It helps my ego a bit. Ha. But it is true. When you first learn to ride you sometimes just slide off the side. You get to a certain point when you only hit the ground after some sort of "incident."

A quick update on the status of my catapulted body: I am happy to say that I can run with no aches or pains from my back. I took a misstep off a sidewalk the other day which torqued my back and caused me some trouble for a few strides, but otherwise I don't notice anything in that department while running.

Sadly, my body is far from 100%.

Extremes in the range of motion (bending downward and standing up very straight) causes me discomfort. My neck was relatively pain free after the accident and now it aches when I turn my head or tilt my head backwards. The night I fell off, my ribs ached when I tried to take a deep breath. This disappeared the first couple of days, but is back with a mean vengeance now. I can't pinpoint it to one rib so I don't think I cracked anything. It is more a general displeasure from my entire upper torso. I notice it the most when I stop running at a stoplight and I'm breathing heavily. But I also have a general discomfort in my torso with certain movements and I sometimes for no apparent reason get a sharp pain.

I have no idea if these two things are related, but my running has been pretty hit or miss the last couple of weeks. There are days I feel pretty good and days I can barely get through a mile without a walk break. And these two types of runs seem to flip flop, one after the other.

I haven't been doing any speed work and have just been trying to get the miles completed. I have a marathon next weekend and I am not looking forward to it. During my run this morning I contemplated downgrading to the half. If the race falls on a bad day, it is going to be a looong time out there and I'd rather not right now. Even if it is a good day, I am sorely under trained for this race and it is still going to be a slog. Boyfriend reminded me I did the inaugural event last year and the idea of maybe doing a streak of this event is probably the only thing keeping me from doing the half instead.

To answer a question from Mario's birthday (Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!!): Mario does not like to be held, but he tolerates it patiently. He'll cooperate while you've got a hold of him, but once you set him down he gives you a few foot flicks to let you know that was NOT cool. So I generally do not pick him up except for the occasional photo-op.


In completely unrelated news, my aunt sent me this photo:


It is the Year of the Rabbit display at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. That is one giant bunny!

11 comments:

d. moll, l.ac. said...

It sounds like you have a rib out and some vertebrae as well. Have you been to a chiropractor or osteopath since your fall? Get yourself straightened out, like a car after a crash your alignment is off.

Hef's Mom said...

Aww, hang in there RoadBunner!

The Fab Furs said...

Re-alignment sounds like a good idea--you might also be doing things differently to avoid pain and throwing something else out of whack.

Alisa said...

Oh man, I'm so sorry your back is still messed up! I'm never had a misalignment to my knowledge but I know that Kristen deals with back issues.

I hope you're back to 100% really soon!!!!!!!!!

Lisa said...

Maybe back to the doctor? d moll has a good point.

Hope you feel better soon.

Mario, such a good boy. My bunnies tolerate being picked up patiently... until they bite me.

RG said...

Ouchy ouch. Are you able to do lots of stretches? Perhaps lots of tight muscles still trying to protect hurt places.

Doc. sounds in order.

I don't know about you, but when I hurt too much to run I KNOW it. And so I don't!

heather said...

After a big fall I had the only thing that helped that lingering soreness was a good massage.

naomi said...

sounds like you might be out of alignment. have you thought about seeing a chiro?

Alyssa said...

Hehe, Mario foot kicks... cute. :) And happy birthday to another bunny I know... a CERTAIN ROADBUNNER, that is!

Sorry to hear your back is still giving you some issues. I understand why you're hesitant about Oakland. Just be careful and don't worry about setting some long-standing streak for the race. No one is going to give two hoots if you have to run a half one year because you can barely breathe without your back torquing!

See you soon.
A

EndorphinBuzz said...

Sorry to hear that you still are experiencing pain. I hope it subsides quickly.

Heart of a Cowgirl said...

Oh, what a cool pic of the Bellagio buns. I'd love to see that in person.