Injury #1 – Pinched Nerve

A few days ago, my colleagues and I were playing with the kids we work with in the school gym. One of them wanted to race from one end of the gym to the other. Why I thought it was a good idea to race these early twenty-somethings is beyond me. I'm no Carl Lewis.

Right at takeoff I felt a little snap in the middle of my back. No biggie, I walked it off. The next day it was a little worse. Some sharp pains throughout the day but nothing to worry about. The day after the pain was gone. Race day comes around and I was feeling great.

Sunday night, after Coogan's, it started again. The next morning I woke up with back spasms. I had planned do some Hot Yoga that evening, after work, so I just figured that I could just stretch my back out there and work out the kinks. By the time work was over, the pains were unbearable. Deep inhalations were sending my back into convulsions. I met my sister and me Kimmie at the Yoga studio but I had to punk out.

Yesterday was worse. Not just because every sudden stop on the subway seized the whole left side of my torso, but because unlike Monday, I couldn't just chalk it up as a rest day. I was going to miss the official start of my training schedule that day. I needed to run, but couldn't. Very frustrating. The funny thing is that only after a couple of weeks of doing this I get really disappointed when I can't run or when I have to take a rest day.

Not a big deal, I've had to miss a day of running so far. According to my marathon ticker I still have seven months and twenty-seven days left. But I've learned that until November I really need to consider the consequences of all my extra-marathon activities. I was planning on doing a bit more snowboarding before the snow melted. I think I'll pass on the slopes until December. All I hear from those that have run marathons is that the biggest obstacles to completing a marathon are the injuries that you get on the way.

Hopefully, by the end of today I'll be able to get at least three miles in. I would like to run New York Colon Cancer Challenge 4M this Sunday. To do so, I'll have to get up to five miles by Friday, since I'll be forced to rest Saturday.

All in all – Big lesson, small price;)