"No more monkeys jumping on the bed"
Or for a more literal translation:
No more running or biking when you feel pain.
That's right kids. I finally dragged my feet to the sports doctor's office this week and received the dreaded news.
The one all of us endurance athletes deeply despise.
The one that knocks us into a deep depression with days full of gloom and doom as our endorphins ever so slowly seep from our systems.
Though I'm pretty sure I lost all of my endorphins last May, hence the burn out I've been experiencing. But I digress...
The fact of the matter is this: I have been battling a right hip-glute-IT/back injury for almost two and a half years. It's the bane of my enduring... even with pain I don't know when to quit. However, Music Man practically forced me to call the doctor when the pain suddenly shifted to my left side a few weeks ago. THAT was supposed to be my good leg. I knew when I started having a little bit of numbness in my foot, a searing pain down the entire back of my leg, and a deep, dull ache in the side of my leg that it was probably time. I could barely walk much less run at this point.
Yes... it took all of that pain to convince me.
After giving my new doc the detailed injury story of the past two years, three doctors, two therapists,and one MRI, he sent me for a few new x-rays.
By few I mean ten.
And then, came the prognosis.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
Well, he did say the x-ray clearly showed muscle spasms in my lower back.
Amazing how a tiny, little spasm can cause so much discomfort everywhere else.
However, Sports Doc can't quite pinpoint the issue because I have SO MUCH pain going on over the course of my lower body. But I think he thinks it's mainly a lower back issue. Sports Doc was thorough. I mean, he did listen to my ridiculous history and did roughly a bajillion strength/nerve tests on me.
So I'm to do some home stretch/strength therapy, along with a few prescriptions for the next six weeks and then time to check in again. I'm allowed to bike and run only if it doesn't cause pain.
Basically, I've become a swimmer.
It's hard to be a triathlete when you're only doing one sport.
But the thing is, I'm ok with this regimen even though I never EVER thought I would be. I mean, I have been training through the pain for over two years now, and I'm just tired. I think as endurance athletes, sometimes we take everything as a huge, enduring challenge. Or perhaps it's just me. I feel like I have to keep going, no matter the obstacles. I can't stop for help. I can't ask for direction when I clearly know someone else knows the way better than I do.
I just have to endure on me own.
But that isn't the case.
For "No man is an island, entire of itself."
One of my favorite poets, John Donne said this in "Meditation XVII."
And it is true in every aspect. We as humans, as wives, as endurance athletes, as (fill in the blank) are interconnected. We share experiences, stories, memories, joys, trials.
We share life.
And no matter what we are facing--the prospect of falling into a time of no training or combating a ridiculous injury that *hopefully* is not neurological in nature or (fill in the blank)--
--disheartening or joyous--
we do not have to do it alone.
I mean, after all, I do get to complain to Music Man every day about how I'd rather be out running.
What is it you are facing this week? What do you need to share with someone so you don't go at it alone?
**MMM as brought to you by Thursday evening.
