Thank You...

   The timing couldn't have been more prolific. Who would've thought the day after my 41st birthday that my ability to run would just up and disappear? This week was supposed to be a nice end of summer vacation for my family and me. Unfortunately it's been nothing but an emotional roller coaster. There's many more doctor's appointments and questions to be asked.

   What do I know? After getting a MRI yesterday it appears that my spinal column has narrowed and I have a herniated or protruding disc (they mean the same thing) in my lumbar region (lower back). All of this is causing lower back pain and numbness in my right leg. It's practically impossible to stand or walk for any period of time. 

   I can't stand, I can't walk I can't do anything other than think about this right now. So, I needed to do something. So I did something stupid and researched my injury on the internet. I know, I know, never to do this! I found a lot of information that was difficult to interpret and disheartening to read. Some were success stories. Some were so tragic they left me in tears. 

     To answer one question that's surely on everyone's mind, yes my running streak ended yesterday at 609 days and 2,762 miles. I made the extremely difficult decision last night to stop rather than risk doing even more damage. As with anything, the information out there on continuing running with this type of injury is contradictory. Some professionals recommended not doing it, others said that it wouldn't cause anymore damage. Until I get my professional diagnosis and speak with my new orthopedic spine surgeon this Friday I thought it was best to call it quits. The pain was so intense last night that it was causing me to see stars and almost pass out every time I tried to walk. It was time to let it go. Out of all of my running related achievements those past 609 days are one of my greatest. I started out just wanting to last 366 days and came out the other end with almost double that number changed forever. It was such an amazing experience that taught me I didn't know as much about running as I once thought I did. I met some truly amazing people who continue to run on into the streaking future making my 609 days look like chump change. I learned to blog, video podcast and was shocked to find that so many people followed my journey. My wife thought I was a loveable nut, my son thought I was a superhero and my friends didn't bring the topic up because they got sick of me rambling on and on about it. I ran through sweltering heat and humidity, heavy rainfall, snow and sleet. I ran after long days of work, during and after a surprise birthday party, on holidays and special occasions. If there's one thing that I can say about it all it's that anyone who wants to get to know themselves better should give it a try. It wasn't hard when you took it day by day. Just a mile a day was the admission price to come to know myself on a deeper level, see some amazing scenery and wildlife, push my limits past perceived boundaries. It was truly a gift to experience a beautiful type of quiet that can only be found in complete darkness at 11:50 PM EST, in the brilliant rays of Christmas morning dawn while the world still sleeps and in the stillness of the trail when it's only you and a grinning puppy amidst the trees. There are thing that I can not put into words about this special time in my life. Went out to dinner last night with the family to celebrate the end of an amazing era. 

   To answer the other big question, yes I've pulled out of all of my scheduled races for the year. No Rochester Marathon, Can 50K or Mendon 50K. If you think that signing up for your first ultra-marathon is difficult, try withdrawing from it. It really hurts the wallet as well. This will be the first year that I haven't run a marathon since 2005. So sad. Unfortunately the blog will be ending as well. I'll still keep the site up. But there's little to write or tape when you're not training to go five miles more.

   You've all been so encouraging and I wouldn't of gotten this far without your love and support. I'm not writing this for your pity. I'm just letting some friends know that I'm human. I'm not sure what the future is going to hold. I pray that it involves running somehow. I've gotten so much from it. It's part of who I am. Sometimes though, I have a tendency to overdo things in my life. Maybe that's what happened in this case. Or maybe it was only a matter of time. Balance is something that continues to elude me in my life. Please understand that the next few months are going to be a difficult transition for me to make. I'm not giving up. Not by a long shot. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an active guy. I'm going to get some good information on Friday and focus my energies on overcoming this particular challenge. I will keep everyone up to date through Facebook as best I can.

   I've always said that living life means taking risks. Without risking anything in your life, you're just existing. I've never been the kind of guy to sit around and watch the day go idly by. Running has done a lot for me and my life. Helped me to more fully experience my world. At times it's been a blessing. At others it's caused unneeded stress and anguish. But I'd like to think it's done more good than bad. From what I can understand coming back from an injury like this is different from person to person. There is no standard recovery time. I don't think that it's the nail in my coffin that I'm dreading it is. But if it is, then I can look back on everything and smile with a sense of satisfaction. You can't run for 12 years and log over 27,665 miles and not feel like you got somewhere.

   As I think back to the beginning I think of the person who started it all. I don't rarely talk about my wife. She's a private woman. Not the kind to put her stuff out there. She's been my biggest supporter and sometimes hater of my running career. 12 years ago she gave me the encouragement to stop dreaming and start doing. Since that first 5K I haven't looked back. I've eclipsed what she thought, what I thought, what anyone thought a formerly obese, non-athletic little kid could ever do. She's the most amazing social worker that I know who's helped countless people and saved numerous lives during the time that I've known her. She's been my rock through all of this and yet again, she's determined to make this another one of my success stories.

 My family, my friends, thank you for everything you have done. Thank you for believing in me when I didn't myself. This is not the end. Thank you for riding that lightning with me...

              

Week Ten-Tour De Pain Race Review & Maybe The End

   Several years ago I heard about a local race series called the Tour De Pain. After some research it looks like the Tour isn't unique to my side of town. Tour De Pains are run across the US with varying race distances. The one thing they all have in common is that the races are held one after the other and runners are scored cumulatively based on all of their finishing times. Pure insanity that I always wanted to give a try but it never worked out. 

   My town's Tour was sponsored by a local running club called the Genesee Valley Harriers and consisted of a 5K race, mile race and 400 meter sprint run in the Cobbs Hill Reservoir area. Very hilly, very challenging. Earlier in the month we signed my son up for their weekly children's cross-country series of races consisting of a 400 meter, half-mile and full mile races. After the children's series an adult 5K was also run each week. He had a blast the entire month and learned two important things: that running distance requires practice and that sprinting isn't in our family's genetic makeup. The Tour was run on the final Wednesday night after the children's race series. I figured that since I was already going to be there, why not finally scratch this one off the bucket list? I had no excuse. 

   I've been training for my ultras all summer. So I didn't do anything special to prepare earlier in the week other than taking it easy with regards to speed work and resting my legs as much as possible. I was feeling good. But my forte is typically longer distances. So I wasn't planning on breaking any speed barriers. Ry ran the half-mile race that night and had his best race of the month. It was hard watching him struggle through the four weeks. But in the end he was as proud of himself as we were of his four finisher ribbons. It was time for the Tour.

   I've run a lot of races in my day and this was by far the most poorly organized. Which surprised me a lot because the Harriers are a well respected running club with lots of experience within their ranks. The 5K was the first race run. I tried to look at a hastily drawn map on a dry erase board but couldn't make heads or tails of the course. Before the race started an announcer asked for a sign of hands who was unfamiliar with the course before. There was only a handful of us who raised our hands. After a brief, vague description of where to run and before anyone could ask anything the race started. The hills were devastating but I didn't do half bad considering all the hill training I've done all summer. The course was very poorly marked and it was all I could do to keep some of the faster runners in sight so I didn't get lost. I managed a very good 5K time but no PR. I felt lucky that I didn't get lost. The mile was run about ten minutes later. Shorter distance so it was easier to figure out where the hell to run. I was dead tired and the hills were again a killer. But I surprisingly managed to clock a PR for that one. The 400 meter was run again about ten minutes after that. Being even more tired faced with more hills meant that there weren't any surprises there. Overall the races were run so haphazardly. I only knew my finish times because I recorded them with my Garmin. I won't be running the Tour again anytime soon. It was good to scratch it off the list but never again.

   This is when things got interesting. The following day I was really sore. So I decided to take it easy and do my cross-training and an easy mile. Challenging but nothing too crazy. It was my birthday too. Who wants to kill themselves on their birthday? The next day I knew that something had gone really wrong. All summer long I've been fighting off hamstring pain and tight hip muscles. Apparently the hills during the race mixed with some race pace level running proved disastrous. I was unable to stand due to extreme right hip pain that radiated down my thigh making my shin and foot numb. It's one of the most severe running related injuries I think I've ever had. 

   Since last Thursday I've only managed a painful mile a day to keep the running streak alive. Running being a very relative term. If my treadmill didn't have side rails I would've died three days ago. I've tried ice, heat, OTC pain revilers, yoga, using my foam roller and a tennis ball. I've even started a five day burst of steroid. Nothing has touched it. After listening to my wife I went to an urgent care center today to talk to a doctor and get some x-rays. On the good side, nothing appears to be broken and if I can stand it, continue to keep my streak going. Running won't do me any more harm but it may continue to aggravate the pain. On the bad side the doctor thinks that my lower lumbar vertebrae are compressing a spinal nerve. I'll be scheduling an appointment with a spinal doctor tomorrow. On an interesting note the doctor thought it was really cool to see that I have six instead of the normal five lumbar vertebrae. Apparently it's a very rare but harmless genetic trait. Still planning on trying to get in to see my chiropractor this week too. He's going to be pissed at me. 

   According to the doctor today this could get better in three to four weeks. That really means a lot of different things. First, there's no way I can work without being able to walk or stand. Being who I am, I'm going to go crazy being out of work or being on light duty. This is going to stink. Second, I may not be able to run my 2013 deferred Rochester marathon in 40 days. I probably could do it in my sleep. I won't be able to defer it another year which means I'll be out $70. But should I even try? Third, I can't miss four weeks of ultra training time. I'm going to check tomorrow to see if I can withdraw from the Canandiagua 50K without penalty. My back up race is the Mendon 50K three weeks later. Which I could maybe muddle through if I got better in a month's time frame. That's a big maybe for the farthest I've ever gone on an unfamiliar course. Fourth, after 609 days what do I have to prove? Why am I doing this crazy non-stop running streak thing anyways? I'm 243 days over my original goal of 366 days. Why continue?

   Over the last 12 years of my life I've wrapped an extremely large portion of who with running. It's where I'm from, who I am and where I'm going. I know this isn't the end. I've been around long enough to realize that runners who say they don't get injuries are liars, period. Pain and suffering are part of the deal. But being unable to even stand or walk far for the past three days has been a humbling experience. 

   Lots of things to to think about during the coming weeks. Lots of decisions to make. Lots of research to do. I've always said that the trick in becoming a better runner is going to the edge of breaking and then hitting the break a little. I accidentally hit the gas instead. I'll keep the blog going on a weekly basis. With all this down time I'll have lots of time to write more to bore you with. Who knows? You may even be subjected to a whole other year's more worth of my ultra nonsense?

   My friends, hope you are well, have your foot over the brake pedal, but still riding that lightning...