Long Time Gone II - Mid-October to Thanksgiving

Then it got bad. I found out that one of my students is has a mass in his brain; so deep and so large it is impossibly inoperable. He’s handling it well, and has recently started aggressive chemo. But it is very scary.

When I found out that news, I hadn’t run in weeks since the Hudy 14k. But after hearing it I needed a release, and my stress eating was starting to show (several nights my dinner consisted of a pint of Greaters and 2 cans of Diet Dew). So I laced up my shoes and went for a run. And I have got to say, I’ve never outright cried on a run before. I’ve had my eyes tear up from wind or cold, but never had I bawled whilst running.

I don’t know what to do, I wonder if I’m more frightened then the student or his classmates. I’ve been beating myself up over this too much, and the worst part is that fact that there’s nothing I can do. The sense of helplessness that cancer brings, is something ‘younger me’ didn’t comprehend when my grandmother went through it all those years ago. We’ve met with him, he’s visited school, and I’ve even had the class Skype with him during class after his first day of chemo. Even without the knowledge from being briefed by his mom and the hospital staff; I know this kid, this 13 year old kid has a very long, very hard road ahead of himself.

That being said, I haven’t been on my blog lately, and have spent just as little time on Dailymile. I hope to get back into things, just as I’ve gotten back into the running. It’s odd, the things that serve as catalysts in our lives.

Tomorrow I run in a 5k fundraiser for my own school. I'd like to run a fast time, but I'm happy just getting back into it. Hopefully, I post a race result sometime sooner than 4 months.

Long Time Gone - July to mid-October

I’ve figured out why I post so rarely. I spend too much time fussing over the poetic imagery, writing style, and quality of the work. I write as though I’m trying to write an essay for Lit class, but with out the deadlines of a taken course, so there’s no pressure to ever actually produce. I look in my folder and have 5 “starts” of posts, but none finished. So until I can find a way to manage my time, the posts will be more of outlines. I’d rather have regular short posts than irregular long ones. Perhaps there will be some humor and some broad vocabulary thrown in, but I won’t be going out of my way to make it happen, at least not for now.

So let me catch you up to (my mediocre) speed.

On the Fourth of July I set out to beat the PR of 26:00 I set at the same race a year before. The day was muggy and overcast. I started out a little too strong, lagged a little in the middle, but played catch-up games all along the course. Ultimately I did set a new PR by over 20 seconds. And I placed second in my weight division, got a medal and wore it almost all day (except for when my son insisted on wearing it). Yea me!

Flash forward a few weeks.

My training was going great. My long runs had reached double digits, I was getting in decent speedwork, and I had a decent plan for working my runs into the schedule of my upcoming school year.

End of August I registered for a Thursday night 5k, The Fox and The Hound 5k. It was a risk, being after a long day of school and the night before another long day of school, I knew would be tough. Nonetheless I had a great time, made it a point to run negative splits, and ran a great race. I really wish I had more time to stick around for the after-party, it was a dusk party on the “Purple People” bridge. Can’t wait til next year when I can run it with someone I know.

Then I ran a 5k for our local zoo. Holy Hills! It was rough, but I really enjoyed it, and got to meet one of my Dailymile friends.

Then...then...things got busy.

On September 14th my daughter, Cassandra, was born. It was glorious, it was wonderful, it was utterly exhausting.

On September 17th I woke up to run the Hudelpohl 14k, it was a hilly run through Cincinnati during Oktoberfest, so I ran in lederhosen. Yes, lederhosen, all 14k, it was a blast. I took it a little easy on the course because I was in costume, I haven't had a good week of running since Aug, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be physically useless the rest of the weekend (I do have a toddler, a newborn, and a post-partum wife at home). When I crossed the line, I really felt like I had more than enough gas in the tank. Despite that, the 1:21:36 was enough to put me at 8th place in my weightclass. The after party was a little packed and disorganized, though I'm sure it'll be fixed for next year. This will definitely be a regular on my race schedule. I was also glad that, my Dailymile friend, Peggy was able to find me after the race to chat, since she blew by me around mile 5.

Then it took a turn for the worse. On top of the whole newborn thing, I then pulled a groin muscle. Between those two, running time was drastically cut. Then school was really starting to get to me.

Then, my wife’s incision turned out to be infected. After only two days back to school my wife had to be admitted to the ER and ended up there for about 5 days. I ended up having to drive back and forth to the hospital when I wasn’t taking care of my two kids to pick up bags of breastmilk so I can feed my daughter (because she couldn’t stay at the hospital with my wife). After it was all said and done, my wife is fine now and back home.

That Which Ails Me

Note: So as I began writing this, I realized that I was beginning to grow a little longwinded. So I edited it down, and then realized that most people could care less about the details/storytelling, and decided to put it in list form. So here we have a bulleted list for those of you who are just interested in the short version. Or for those of you more interested in the “storytime” version (with adjectives and such) skip on down to the medium version.

Short Version

A little while ago a friend from the DailyMile and I were trading messages about injuries, which started as a suggestion to avoid prolonged overuse of certain OTC medication. At one point she asked me what were my past injuries. I laughed when I thought about how long it would take to list them all, so I decided to make a blog post devoted to all of my major injuries.

I’ll be omitting the smaller less significant injuries that I incurred early in my life. Like the time I was 5 and stepped on a nail (of course that one was clearly just included, but others like it will be left out).

Spring 98: tore all the tendons in my left ankle

Fall 98: severed my left ACL and tore my LCL, MCL, and meniscus; knee reconstruction and rehab

Winter/Spring 03: sprained and slightly tore my rotator cuffs

Spring 04: severed my left ACL; knee reconstruction and rehab

Spring 06: separated my left A-C joint

Fall 07: severely tore my right ACL; knee reconstruction and rehab

Winter/Spring 08: separated my right A-C joint

Summer 10: developed Plantar Fasciitis

I’m not sharing this to brag about toughness, nor for a pity-party; but because it feels good to just list them all out. Granted, these are simply the major ones, the more debilitating ones. I’ve had my fair share of broken noses, fingers, concussions, black eyes, etc, but these were the big ones. These are the hurdles I’ve fought for over a decade, and I know I’ll probably have more in the future, but I’m feeling like these major ones are in the past.

Medium Version

A little while ago a friend from the DailyMile and I were trading messages about injuries, which started as a suggestion to avoid prolonged overuse of certain OTC medication. At one point she asked me what were my past injuries. I laughed when I thought about how long it would take to list them all, so I decided to make a blog post devoted to all of my major injuries.

I’ll be omitting the smaller less significant injuries that I incurred early in my life. Like the time I was 5 and stepped on a nail (of course that one was clearly just included, but others like it will be left out).

My first real injury took place in the Spring of the end of my sophomore year. It was a May practice for just the defensive line and linebackers. At the end we went out to the track and began running sprints (in the style of “Up and Down the River”). I tripped over a break in the pavement and ripped all the tendons that run through my left ankle, leaving me cast-bound for the next 8 weeks (on a side-note: I used this time to get my bench press up to 315lbs).

I got back on my feet, had a pretty good junior season until the last play of the last game of the season. The other team was down by 6 and had the ball mid-field with 4^th and 15 to go. As the QB dropped back for a Hail Mary I broke through the C-G gap. I was sprinting full steam when the FB chop blocked my knees, particularly the left one. After 3min of lying very, very still and stopping the game; I got up and walked off the field, refusing any assistance (yeah, I’ve always been stubborn). I’ll never forget the feeling when my knee bent backwards as I was walking to the sideline. The next morning the doctor was convinced it was only a sprain since I walked off the field, but went ahead with the MRI. Turns out I had completely severed my ACL and tore my LCL, MCL, and meniscus. After an extensive surgery and 6mos of rehab (and an addiction to pain killers) I was moved to Center on the offensive line and told to hunt and kill linebackers (side-note: I used that time to get my bench press up to 365lbs).

Flash forward to my 3^rd year of college; and in my quest to bench twice my bodyweight I reached 425lbs (and weighed 205). Three weeks later I went for an even 440lbs causing me to sprain and slightly tear both rotator cuffs. No surgery after that one, just TLC and a permanent avoidance of seriously heavy weight (to this day, the most I’ve ever attempted was 375lbs).

The next spring (my first of two senior years) I was simply kneeling on the ground and felt a snap in my left knee. I had blown out my left ACL (again). My doctor explained to me that it had been weak for some time and all it took was a little too much pressure in a certain direction. Another reconstruction and 6 more months of rehab.

Jump two more Springs and I’m playing backyard football against some jerks who were getting a little too aggressive and carried away hitting the little guys on my team. I tackled their RB (who had a big mouth and kept stiff arming my teammates in the throat) into the ground so hard I broke two of his ribs and separated my left A-C joint (above where the clavicle meets the rotator cuff). This left me unable to lift my arm for two weeks and had to miss the first 3 weeks of the rugby season (but it was worth it).

A year and a half later in the Fall of ’07 the day before the first day of school, I blew out my right knee at rugby practice. Not tackling, not rucking, not mauling, scrumming or even running the ball; instead I did it by running sprints. A funny step and bam, my knee buckles and I’m on the ground. I spent the next few months teaching out of a wheel chair (I got really good at wheelies). I used that Winter to lift weights and get psyched up for the Spring rugby season. I got so enthused that I separated my right A-C joint lifting weights (I’m sure the boxing didn’t help).

Flash forward to the Summer of 2010, I’m running for the sake of running; and loving it. I had just gotten over a severe case of shin splints (through patience and a pair of actual running shoes), and was building up miles. Probably a little too much too soon, not to mention too fast. By early August I was noticing a sharp stabbing pain in my right heel, after a little bit of research I found out it was Plantar Fasciitis. Took a few weeks off, and went back at it to no avail. Spent the Fall and Winter researching natural running form, shoes, and training programs and started back up in February building my form from scratch; and so far so good.

I’m not sharing this to brag about toughness, nor for a pity-party; but because it feels good to just list them all out. Granted, these are simply the major ones, the more debilitating ones. I’ve had my fair share of broken noses, fingers, concussions, black eyes, etc, but these were the big ones. These are the hurdles I’ve fought for over a decade, and I know I’ll probably have more in the future, but I’m feeling like these major ones are in the past.