Run 44, 2010 …back from a very bad week…

For about 8 days I could not run due to severe muscle cramps on the right side of my neck, arm, shoulder, and back. I had to miss my last 21 km long run at the start of my taper last Sunday and I could barely walk let alone run for a few days. I slept a lot and took muscle relaxants, while still trying to move and stretch it out. I hate taking the prescription muscle relaxants because they just put you to sleep and make you feel really groggy and unable to move much. I’m pretty sure that a big strong guy like me was felled by a mere mouse. A computer mouse. I am now using my left hand to mouse with. I spend a lot of time moving computer mice around since my business is computers and fixing them…sounds pretty strange doesn’t it?

Even the tiniest muscle can cripple a person when that muscle is surrounded by other muscles that deem it necessary to support the injured muscle, which then need supporting by other more peripheral muscles until finally you are one giant wreck.

So my taper is pretty much shot. I began a slow recovery a couple of days ago and today I felt like I could at least try to run. I had a 16 km run planned for today as part of my taper so I thought I’d better get out there and do it. I felt much better, but I ran into a very strong head wind that I had a hard time pushing against. Nevertheless I ran the 16 km with an average pace of 7:39 per km, much slower than the 6:15 pace I started out with. The run did not feel good, I had a hard time waking my body up and shaking off the last of the muscle relaxants, which I had stopped taking the day before.

I think the pills and the fact that I slept a whole lot really shut my body down and it will take me a few days to wake it up again. I would like to do a 10 km on Tuesday as the last possible run before I leave for California. I won’t have another opportunity to run again until marathon day, May 2nd.

It really was a dreadful week and I am not really optimistic about this marathon. But I have run enough times to know that no matter how you feel on race day, you just never know how that run will go, so – OK – maybe I am optimistic after all.