It'll come as no surprise to the 2 of you that read this blog that I train a lot for running, and enjoy racing. Furthermore, those in the know are also aware that I'm recently divorced. It also probably won't come as a surprise that while I'm writing this I'm also watching MMA, tonight it's The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. None of those things have anything in common, and only one of those things is relevant to my meandering self-indulgent rant for the evening.
What's over there?!?!
In December I ran the Rock 'N Roll Las Vegas half marathon, and I had a great race. I set a new personal best and had a blast. That's not the point. During the race, about 3 miles from the end, I started having pain in both knees. I powered through, and was able to finish strong, but for a couple days after my knees were wrecked. I had a race the next weekend, because I'm an idiot, and ran a 12k with a few friends. That's roughly 7 miles, and for the first mile I felt fine. It was all down hill after that. I finished ok, but had the Rock 'N Roll Phoenix coming up in a few weeks. I took a week off and tried to train through the pain as much as I could. I'm pretty sure I've told this story before.
Like this, but way less sexy.
So the Phoenix race sucked, and my knee was trashed afterward. I spent about a month doing my cardio in the pool, or on the bike. The daily pain finally subsided, so I went to try a field workout for crosstraining, and I sprained my left arch. Not my ankle, or my toe, my fucking arch. It was at this point I realized I'd been bitten by the injury bug. Just because I realized it didn't mean it was over. When my foot finally felt better, I tried to ease back into running and my knee flared up again. What's worse, this particular strain is a contagious little fucker. Since I've been up and down, I have 2 regular running/training buddies that have gone down with major illness, minor surgery (of course, it's only minor when it's not happening to you), another knee injury, an ankle injury, and most recently, a low grade flu. This doesn't even count just regular friends and family dealing with a pulled back, sore ankles, a partially torn retina, another sprained ankle, and I think that might be all.
This is how me and my crew roll
Everyone but myself didn't start having problems until after the new year, so I can't help but think of myself as the typhoid Mary of this little trainwreck we're all involved in. But wait! There's more! To say I've been on an emotional rollercoaster these past few months would be a massive understatement. My marriage started falling apart in late July/early August, and the dominoes that are my friend's lives began to fall in short order. I'm not blaming myself, but I think maybe I was a catalyst, or to make it sound awesome, an agent of change.
The picture here was way more awesome in my mind.
Out of respect for my friends, details on what's happened and to whom will stay anonymous. I've vacillated between dizzying highs and insanely low lows. It's been a learning experience, I've had to get used to the idea that not everyone is sick of my bullshit (yet), and I do still have people who care. What's more, I'm coming to peace with the fact that I'm not alone, my friends have been going through their own personal shit, and sometimes I need to get my head out of my ass and remember that. I'm by no means over my depressed phase, that shit bounces around like a goddamn bumble ball.
But I'm realizing I'm depressed instead of just lashing out at people. Fuck you! That counts as progress! i've got a long road to hoe (hehe) but, to quote the Beatles, "I am the walrus, goo goo gachoo". No, wait, I mean "I get by with a little help from my friends. I also realize that this little exercise is more self fellating than usual lately, and I promise, someday soon I'll get back to dick jokes and bad Futurama references that only 1/2 of you get. That's one person for those of you keeping score at home. I can't even remember the last time I talked about something funny, but that's because sharks don't look back.
My Boneitis!
Since I've been whiny and depressing for the better part of this mess, and even more so because it's finally back and if you don't like it tough shit, I give you the new undercover from AVclub.
Solid, no? I recommend checking out the rest in your own time. Thanks for reading, and mom, don't worry I'm fine. There, that's half my readership. If anyone who's actually put up with me through all this reads this, thank you. Also, sorry about the swearing (not really, you should know by now). The moral of this story was "fuck you, injury bug" and I am hoping it's one of those things where by acknowledging it you can defeat it. I think that got lost somewhere in the middle.
