Ups and Downs...

I know, I know. It's been forever.

Where to start...

The last few weeks have been a real rollercoaster. At our last long training run on March 29- A 20 miler from Hopkinton to Newton, I finally managed to hurt myself for real. Best guess is that I've done something untoward to my left piriformis muscle. It's a little deal that holds your sacrum to your femur. I don't really know what caused it. I felt a little twinge there the night before the 20 mile run. I figured it was nothing and would either: A) Be gone by morning. or B) Work itself out during the run. Well, it worked itself IN during the run. By eight or nine miles, it hurt pretty badly. My teammate Kyrsten ran with me for a mile and noticed that I was limping. I then violated my own rule: "When you limp, you stop." At about 11 miles, Kyrsten offered to join me again- I would have been lousy company at that point so I declined. By 13 or 14 miles, I was reduced to an almost continuous walk. Then, the angels appeared. Kyrsten and Alyssa. They traveled with me to the Wellesley Community Center which is just short of 15 miles. A few bad jokes and some interesting conversation made the time painless. Coach Rick met me just west of the community center. He told me what I've told others many times during training for cycle events. The fact that I know he was right didn't make it easy to stop there- But stop there I did.

The next day, Sunday, I could hardly walk. Pain in the piriformis can literally be called 'a pain in the butt.' Damn but that hurt! Going down stairs was just silly! I would almost rather have just fallen down the stairs- It would have been over quicker! I ingested my own weight in ibuprofen and left for the New England Multisport Expo. Yes. I know that was stupid. But I'd agreed to volunteer there and had no way to let anyone know that I was going to be absent so off to Cambridge. Once I got there, I found that I could only walk about 10 steps without stopping. I figured at that point that it was some kind of soft tissue injury since I could feel something balling up as I walked and it would slowly relax if I stood still. Well, like an idiot, I stayed there all day. (Great expo by the way...) I hobbled home and figured that if it still hurt like this on Monday, I'd see the doctor.

Monday- I felt OK when I woke up. No pain. Hah! As soon as I got out of bed and took a step- Yikes! I called my doctors office at Acton Medical for an appointment. My primary care doctor was available but at another facility without x-ray capability. The nurse thought x-rays might be needed so she scheduled me with a different doctor at Acton for that afternoon. I limped into the appointment. I left believing that it was a soft-tissue injury but not knowing much else. The doctor was pretty dismissive. Actually, I thought he sucked. I won't name him here but I won't forget him either. He said "Use heat and ibuprofen. Here are some stretches. (Gives me a printed sheet.) I don't know about the marathon." Thanks doc.

So next step is to find someone who actually does know what they're doing. So I made an appointment with Marathon Physical Therapy with the swift approval of my regular doc. My first appointment was on that Friday. I made it clear that my goal was to be on the start line for the Boston Marathon. So with that in mind, Monica and Jody evaluated the mess that was me at that point. Since then, between Jody beating me up and seemingly endless heat/stretch/ice cycles, the improvement is measurable. The thought of not being sufficiently healed come April 21 still scares the crap out of me. I just keep telling myself and anybody else who will listen that I'm going to be on the Boston Marathon start line on April 21, 2008.

Jody as well as Coaches Rick and Lori have said not to run during the taper. Biking on the other hand is fine. So rather than sit around and eat bon bons, I've been riding during my taper. Yanno, the scenery changes a lot faster on a bike than on my feet!

I ended up being out of work the entire week after I got hurt. To pass the time and keep my head in the right place, I re-read Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About The Bike" and Donna Hicken's "The Good Fight." You all know who Lance is. Donna Hicken is the organizer of "26.2
with Donna: The National Marathon Against Breast Cancer"- The Half Marathon that Jill, Kyrsten and I ran in Jacksonville, FL in February. The books helped me to not only stay positive but to remember the Team in Training mission.

Speaking of staying positive. I've been thinking a lot lately about my friend Diana Golden-Brosnihan. The world lost Diana in 2001.

Read about Diana here, here and here.

I didn't really get to know Diana well until high school. She was a few years behind me and until high school, I knew that she was the kid who had lost her leg to cancer. I got to know her better when she started to get involved with the theater group where I hung out. Diana didn't just enter a room, she exploded into it. She was all exuberance and positive attitude. She was also beautiful and there were more than a few guys with crushes on her, myself included. She was strong and tough and could knock most of us guys off of our feet with or without her crutches.

As you know, since you did your reading above, she became a world class skier. Not only did she compete and win against other disabled athletes, she also competed against athletes without disabilities.

Warren Miller, who is famous for his ski films said about Diana: "After you're with her for a few minutes, you totally forget her handicap,'' he said. ''She has her act together, and it's not an act.''

Not only did Diana prevail over her bone cancer, she was also a breast cancer survivor. Her breast cancer finally took her in 2001. It makes me sad that I lost touch with her. But I never forgot her. (If you ever met her, you couldn't forget her if you tried.)

Diana's name is on my Boston Marathon singlet. I'll be running not only in honor of Lindsey and our other honored heroes, but also in Diana's memory. It is an honor and a rare privilege to have known her. Diana set the bar high. I hope I can measure up.

Well, somehow or another, my blog ended up linked from the Breast Cancer Marathon website.

I heard from another of the bloggers- Jim aka RunningGeezer262- He sent me a quote that's also on his blog:

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -T.S.Eliot

Damn straight. I just may be going to far. I'll get back to you on that.

Dean Karnazes, an ultra-marathoner and all-around runner of outrageous distances said:

"Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up."

Another quote I've become fond of- Don Kardong (Olympic marathoner and world-class runner) said:

“Hills: You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot.”

'Nuff said!