"The Injury of 2017"

It wasn't even February and I came down with another injury. I have NO clue what's going on with my body this past year. First a bad ankle sprain, then a bad case of runners knee and now something going on in my lower back that's immensely miserable.

It started on February 25th, the day after I had run my usual 5 miles and then played tennis with a friend. Sure, I hadn't played in a few years, but I did play for a decade of my life quite often and figured it would be no big deal.

Starting around lunch that Saturday I literally could barely move. When I would go from sitting to standing, I was a hunchback and it hurt like hell. My back kept locking up on me and pretty much doing anything was absolutely miserable. Per the suggestion of a friend, I reached out to the chiropractor to see if an adjustment would help. It didn't and he suspected a disc herniation so I got an MRI. That's a whole different post but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The results came back and NO herniation but a disc bulge. I've been told these aren't that bad, but then the chiro called it a 'serious injury'. I did 2 days on a decompression machine and that was it. I almost passed out with pain after day 2 so now I'm currently focusing on PT exercises.

I also listened to a nagging voice in my head to get higher up the chain for further feedback and scheduled and appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. He took xrays, looked them over and immediately diagnosed me with adult onset scoliosis due to degenerative disc disease. I have spurs everywhere and my spine isn't just curved but twisted as well. This doesn't necessarily cause the pain, it still is linked to the disc, but is a concern. Essentially I have the back of a 50 year old and need to stop distance running. Not just full marathons (which, yes, I was planning to do another spring 2018) but halfs and even 10 milers.

Devastation.

And if you're reading this and not a runner, you won't understand and that's fine. And yes, it is a first world problem, but I was absolutely devastated. Running is a part of me and has been for a decade now. I love it so very much and was really hitting some new PR's and paces I hadn't ever seen this winter. And now I have to give up something I completely love for the rest of my life. Sure I can still run little 5k's and 10k's but it's the distance I love. The conversations with friends while hitting 8, 10, 12+ miles were some of my most favorite times. It was a very rough few days for me.

Fast forward to 12 days after the initial pain set on and I'm a bit better. I'm taking walks with the pup while the kids are at school and begin my yoga journey tomorrow to help stretch me out. I can walk mostly straight up which is an improvement from day 1 but there's still a dull pain in the lower back and around to the front and picking up Ady or bending over to the ground still isn't fun.

Lots of tears have been shed, including on my walk this morning after seeing several runners run by. It's an absolutely gorgeous day outside and all my soul wanted to do was to run. Walking just isn't my cup of tea and I feel like it does nothing. Again, I get this sounds dramatic to some, but it's how I feel so I'm getting it out.

Who knows if it was from the tennis that day or if the marathon last year played a part (I feel like everyone is saying different things), but for now I'm just focusing on getting healthy again while resting and then we'll figure out how much running can be in my life.