Good morning! This post is written with more hope than I remember having in a long while. A few things seemed to have "gone my way" recently, which is the first time I can remember that happening in God knows how long.
The first thing is the week of May 30-June 5 I was able to run about 42 miles for the week. That is the most I have run in probably over a year. I did not experience any negative physical effects to boot!
Secondly, I had an MRI done on my lower back. The motivation for this was to attempt to identify the source of my ongoing, unilateral lower back pain/tightness/soreness. This would allow me, more specifically my doctor, to determine if running may be the cause of the pain or aggravating the source problem. The results: disc dessication at L3/L4 & L4/L5. That probably doesn't seem like a positive result for many people, but for me it was a relief. This was the diagnosis I received back in August 2008 that lead to the herniation of those discs at that time. The condition has progressed since then, but it is managable. The best news is that, according to my doctor, running is not going to make the condition worse, and in his words: "There are a whole of people running significantly greater volume with backs in much worse condition than mine". I was prescribed an oral dose of steriods to reduce the inflamation alleviate the pressure on the root nerve causing the problem. I feel much improved, although not completely cured.
Third, I realized one of the factors leading to ongoing back pain was...my bed. It's too darn soft! I came to this realization on family vacation last week. I was sleeping on the floor and had little to no discomfort in my lower back. I experienced relief, so much so, that some days it did not cross my mind! So, a new, firmer (and most likely cheaper) bed will be replacing the expensive, plush bed I bought only a year ago. The monetary loss is a small price to pay.
Fourth, I threw caution to the wind and ran a 5K this past Saturday while on vacation. I was down in Florida, where my aunt and uncle live, on our annual family vacation. They convinced me to run the race with them. I didn't have much of an expectation for myself; I figured the best I could do was 19:30, and I would have just been happy to break 20 minutes. Somehow, with the limited amount of slow running I've been doing allowed me to run 18:31, for 7th place overall. This was the first race I had done since October 2009. It definitely got me jazzed and motivated to get back to running the 50 miles a week my doctor and I had decided on for the time being.
My stride has improved signifcantly since my gait analysis and regularly performing the perscribed exercises. I feel as though I am continuing to make small improvements to feel comfortable with my stride. I feel as though I am "falling out" on my left side, like I am so much more right side dominate. I think I may have a pelvic twist or tilt, but it is hard to tell. I saw my physical therapist a couple weeks ago and he has me doing some exercises on the pulley machine that he thinks will straighten me out. I am trying to run with a uniform stride on both sides, and that seems to have helped some. Still a lot to figure out on this topic in the future.
With each little baby step, I get closer. I don't really know what I am closer to other than the idea of a "Return to Running". It's a vision, now I just have to figure out what exactly the vision is so I know when I'm there!
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