Back to A Return To Running

[And now for the 2nd half of the story]

I don’t think it would have been possible for me to drink enough water to compensate for all the toxins that were released from the massage on my back.

By Thursday afternoon, I was feeling pretty bad. So bad, that when I arrived home from work, I went straight to bed and went right to sleep. This was about 5:30pm and I never made any attempt to get into Pajama Jammy-Jams; I crashed. I’m not sure of the first time I woke up, I think it was a couple hours later but I was soaked in sweat. I had soaked my shirt and Jacket, I told you I went straight to bed. I even soaked completely through my jeans, so much that even the bed and the comforter was wet.

I pretty much slept through the night and was very thankful for My Lovely and Talented Wife for taking up my end of putting the kids down for bed. In the morning, I was cognizant enough to do the bare minimum to get the kids ready for school, but then went straight back to sleep afterwards. About 9:30am, I woke up, feeling better or at least on the side closer to fine.

Despite feeling somewhat better, and the rattling in my chest about 90% gone, there was still work that needed to be done. More Massage Therapy. While the main mass of knots in my back had been broken up there were more in hiding.

Now that the rattling had gone down, I noticed something else that wasn’t right. It felt that my throat/air pipes were either covered with a layer of something or they were swollen. It did not seem that I could get the volume of air through my mouth and into my lungs. I made a note to mention this to my chiropractor for my next visit.

My next visit was 8 days after the first attack on my back. During this visit, I told him about the last week of events after the initial massage. I went upstairs to see Jeff who told me that the culprit muscle was under the scapula (shoulder blade). The bad news about the muscle was that it’s well covered by the scapula and you have to go (Basically) from the armpit to reach it. The good news was that it was accessible and after a few minutes of moderate massage, it felt pretty good.

Over the weekend, my symptoms improved even more. The rattling was non-existent but I was stilling coughing, but only occasionally. I decided that on that Monday (9/26), I would run a lunchtime to see what condition I was in. My condition was good. I only ran 2 miles and had some congestion during the run, which I didn’t think wasn’t out of the ordinary. There was still residual stuff in my chest and throat and so being active was just a catalyst to get it out.

The first half of October, I didn’t log any miles for dedicated runs, but I was active with walking (and sometimes running) to and from the bus stops. I could tell each time that I was getting back to normal. And for some of the runs where I was running to make a particular bus, despite a heavy backpack and up hill, I was noticing that I could run longer while still maintain a particular pace.

Looking at the calendar, it was an 8 week ordeal and by no means is the issue gone. However, there is no more rattling, no congestion and I can manage the knots in my back pretty efficiently with a K’NEX building piece that I “borrowed” from the kids. It’s long enough that I can reach back with it and get good pressure on the muscles. It’s strong enough that I can push the underlying muscles and it’s not too pointed as cause me to poke holes in my back.

With a new mental attitude to running and a somewhat working back, I’m starting to focus on training and racing again. I don’t have anything set right now, but I am in the process of seeing what races are on the horizon. Who knows, I might even WIN a free entry to the Publix Georgia Marathon and the decision of determining my next marathon might be a no-brainer.