97 days and $603 to go!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

It seems if it's not one thing, it's another! Put another way, the story of this week for me is: Two steps forward, one step back.

I was looking forward to some good training runs in Florida this week. The weather was great! I laced up my new pair of running shoes at 5:45AM on tuesday morning. Having left home the previous morning with the temperature at about 15 degrees F, I was anticipating my 65 degree morning run. It started out well, I was cruising along and feeling good for about the first 25 minutes of the run when, at the half-way point, I felt a very strange and unsettling sensation in my lower back. It felt like someone was pulling a wire out of my lower back, a rather shivery sensation. I had been doing back exercises to heal what felt like a mildly bulging disc; just a periodic dull pain in my lower right back. I don't know what happened at that halfway point but I slowed down a little and straightened my back a little and managed to finish the second half of the workout without further pain or wierd sensations. I thought to myself, "Now I've really done it!".

That day I started the regular hourly back exercises (press-ups) that I have done in the past to heal a herniated disc. Expecting to wake up the next morning unable to get out of bed, I left my cell phone within reach on the night table. I was a little worried to say the least. I was able to get out of bed the following morning (wednesday), thank goodness! Although my lower back was noticeably more sore. The good news is that so far I haven't felt the characteristic pain in my legs signaling that a disc is pressing on the nerves. Not wanting to completely miss my morning activity, I substituted a 30-40 minute walk for the anticipated run. The rest of the week was morning walks followed by regular hourly exercise. Later in the week, I added an exercise to strengthen the para-spinal muscles. These are the back muscles which help to support the spine.

I hope to get in a ride or two this coming week, weather permitting. But, I'll stay off the running until the pains in my lower back completely subside. This will tell me that things are completely healed. My longer term plan is to pay more attention to my lower back with regular exercises to strengthen the muscles accompanied by regular press-ups (wimpy push-ups as I like to call them) to keep my spine flexible and the discs between the vertebrae where they belong.