Tag: race

Miserable Monday

How is that for the title of a post? It’s very fitting, if you ask me. Today I had my follow-up appointment at the orthopedist, this time seeing a different doctor. I answered questions, they took X-rays, and he used the funny hammer thing on me. Interesting fact, when you have sciatica and your leg is numb down to your foot, it will not respond to the funny hammer thing when the doctor taps the back of your ankle with it.

After all this, and looking at my X-rays, doc said that I have some weakness in my calf based on my responses. Oh yay. He had me walk on my toes. I couldn’t even do it on my left foot, it just collapsed under me. I can’t tell you how freaky of a feeling that is. So, the plan now is that tomorrow I start physical therapy which will be 3 times a week for 2 weeks. After that, I go back to the doctor and if no changes or if it’s worse, I will need to have an MRI.

As for the X-rays they took today, they did not show anything, except for a little bit of arthritis in my lower back. Since I’m assuming they take X-rays for obvious reasons for my pain, I guess it’s kind of comforting to know there wasn’t anything weird or bad that they could see.

I am trying to not consult Dr. Google for this because any horror stories for this same thing will freak me out. It already freaks me out a bit that after just a week, there is already weakening in the muscle of my leg AND if this isn’t getting any better in a couple weeks and we do an MRI, steroid injections directly in my back may be needed. I asked if my staying off the leg as much as possible has had anything to do with the weakening of my calf, should I have been walking on it regardless? He said no, that it’s the pinched nerve. My staying off it has not had any effect on it.

I will say that going to the doctor this morning was totally different than last week when the pain first started. I could hardly walk in there last time. And most of last week, I was super fidgety, unable to get comfortable in any position whether I was laying down or sitting up. And the worst was in the car. My mom even says I don’t seem nearly as uncomfortable or fidgety and that I am walking better. If anything, it’s more of an achy feeling now than the PAIN I had last week. Well, that and the tingly numb feeling.

I am irritated about this whole thing and trying really hard not to get depressed about it. Sure as I’m sitting here, I know that the 10K I want to do next month is out of the question since it’s less than a month away. $&%!#@%

But enough boo-hooing about my back…. I thought it would be fun to show off the cool X-rays of my back. I think my spine looks pretty darn cool…

 

xray ig edit 1

 

xray ig edit 2

 

Have you ever had physical therapy for sciatica? How did you do?

Race recap ~ Gasparilla Distance Classic 5+3K

For the second time, I was outside on a Sunday morning, in crazy wind waiting for a race to start. This might be how my luck is…

Yesterday, I ran the Gasparilla Distance Classic 5+3K along Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa. This is my first time to take part in this event and I will absolutely do it again next year. This route is so pretty, a gorgeous water view on one side and beautiful homes on the other side. I met up with my good friend Terrie and we waited *patiently* in the wind for it to be time to line up at the start line.

This was an out-and-back course, 4.97 miles that started right at 9:00am. Despite the wind, it wasn’t really cold. Nothing at all like the weather at the Rock ‘n’ Rock 1/2 Marathon last month.

I started running very soon after starting. In my mind, I wanted to beat my time of 1:04 that I did last weekend when I ran the same distance around the park to see how I did. I ran more than I walked in this one. The first half, the wind was at our backs. When we turned around, it was right in our faces. I kept pushing along.

I had my Garmin on, of course, but it was a little off from my chip time. When I hit the 5K mark, I knew I was doing well as I was right around 37 minutes, which would be my fastest time yet. I wasn’t sure how off my Garmin was as I was running, but when I neared the finish line, I knew I was going to be EXTREMELY close to the 1 hour mark. Fortunately I had signed up to get a text alert on my time and I knew very quickly after crossing the finish line that my time was 1:00:16. My first thought was “16 SECONDS?!?!” Oh what I would give to have been 17 seconds faster and had my time right under 1 hour. But all in all, I am VERY happy with how I did, how much I ran, and how great I felt. I definitely push myself more in an event than when I am just running around the park. I think I psych myself out, thinking I can’t do as much as I can.

I waited for Terrie at the finish line and we were both pleased with how we did. It’s a great feeling to finish an event and celebrate with a good friend. So far this year, we’ve done 3 events together!

Here are a few pictures from the day!

Early morning and ready to go!
My running must-haves!
Back side of the start line.

 

Official chip time
Finished!
Super cool medal.