The sun was shining a little brighter in St. Louis today.  Both literally and figuratively.  We did actually hit a high in the mid-60’s this afternoon which was a welcome break from the subzero temperatures we have become accustomed to this year.

However, it wasn’t just the weather that brightened my mood.  This morning when I arrived at Brian’s…Uh, I mean Dr. Laiderman’s office I was greeted by his office manager Debby and a hand written thank you note posted on the wall that I recognized the signature on to be that of my friend Diana. I filled out the electronic form and when I got to the question about who had referred me, I basically did an eeny-meany-miney-mo to land on Andrea’s name since it could have been any number of people.  And there’s the fact that I know him personally.

Dr. L knew the gist of my situation since shortly after my near collapse on the floor of West County Lanes on Saturday I sent him a message saying something like…Ouch, I hurt, how soon can you get me in?  But when we got started he said, “Ok, pretend I don’t know anything about you and tell me what’s going on”.

I went through the story of being out for a run with Brian…my Brian.  I can see how this might get confusing so for the sake of clarity “my Brian” will henceforth be referred to as Koz.  So, I told Dr. L about our run on Al Foster a few weeks ago, attempting to let my hamstring heal, reinjuring it bowling and so on.

Dr. L was convinced that there was more to it.  He had me do some squats and stretches.  He checked my range of motion and resistance levels on both legs.  He definitely found the tender spots.  I had tenderness in my legs, my back, my gluts, my hips, my calves and my feet.  (Really?  I have a messed up left hamstring, what’s with the tenderness in my right foot?!) He was even concerned with the weird blood blister I had developed a few months ago that I had just attributed to the stitching on my Cascadia’s and the sizeable bunion on my right foot.  Anyway, we traced it back to last summer.  Apparently my body was trying to tell me something then, I just chose not to listen to it until now. Remember all the hip trouble I was having leading up to Racine?  Well, it’s all connected.  And it’s basically causing me to run all twisted up and hunched over.  I’m crooked.  He still wanted to determine why my hip was fatigued, but we figured that would come.  It came sooner than we thought, but I’ll get to that a little later.

Today’s visit ended without time to begin treatment, so I’m going back on Friday.  The bad news is: I’m giving up my bib for the Quivering Quads trail half marathon next month.  As much as I hate missing my races, I’m willing to do this knowing that we’re focused on the big goal: Getting me healthy enough to kick it into high gear for Arizona training.  But the good news is: Dr. L seems to think that after a couple rounds of treatment, I should be able to get back to running.  Nothing crazy just yet, but when he said the words “…possibly a short run next week…” I almost cried out of sheer happiness.  (I may have actually done so when I was alone in my car with the sound of Dr. L’s words still ringing in my ears)

I’ve been feeling a little like I might never be able to run again.  And while Koz told me that notion was completely irrational, it has still been hiding out in the back of my mind.  Talk about a tough pill to swallow.  Fortunately, I don’t have to.

On my way out, I stopped by Debby’s desk to set up my next appointment on Friday morning.  And then I practically skipped out of the building into the warmth of 57 degrees.  I didn’t actually skip, that would be silly seeing as I still can’t run…or even bowl for that matter.  But I was walking on air.  And the sun breaking up the overcast skies was symbolic to say the least.  It’s been chilly and gray here for weeks and now the sun is finally starting to shine.

I celebrated by going over to the pool for a 2500 meter swim.  I came out of the pool to a text from Steve, who is also a patient of Dr. L.  Steve signed up today for the Rev 3 full triathlon at Cedar Point this summer (To anyone not “in the know”, Rev 3 is a brand like Ironman that puts on various races of that same distance).  Anyway, our text conversation went like this:

Steve:  What did our buddy Brian have to say?

RRG: Good prognosis.  It’s coming in form of an RRG update later.  QQ is out, but I’m ok with that. Focus is on the long term goal.

RRG again: And btw, Congrats on signing up for Cedar Point.  Woohoo!  Oh, wait, I mean…always gotta beat me to it, don’t ya?  Jerk.

RRG again (What?!  We all know I talk a lot.  Would you expect my texting habits to be any different?): And especially funny to remember…Hey Steve, do LSL (Lake St. Louis) with me.  No, I don’t think so…well, ok.

Steve: This is really all your fault.  I was also reminiscing with Nick how when I first met you, you were asking what I was wanting out of the social run.  I replied with thinking of maybe a fall half marathon.

RRG: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I went about the rest of the day, but I kept mulling over that weird pain in my right foot.  And then suddenly it occurred to me.  Sometimes I am such a dope, why hadn’t I mentioned that to Dr. L when he asked about my injury history?!  Duh.  And so I sent him this message…

“Oh my goodness!  I don’t know why I didn’t think to tell you this today! I figured out what trauma started everything!

In September of 2012 I was moving out of my old house and on the last load of stuff I took to the car I fell down the stairs and landed on the floor of the garage.  I completely twisted my right foot, I thought it was broken.  It was swollen and purple and green.  But did I go to the hospital? No.  Did I even see a doctor about it?  Nope.  Why?  Because I had the Chicago marathon 3 weeks later.  I ran one time in those 3 weeks (the ultimate taper) just to make sure that I could still run at all.  Then I ran a marathon.  Then I took a short break from running.  Then I started Half-Ironman training for Racine during which my right hip got out of whack, etc, etc…”

So, now that we know what started all of this, we can get on with the business of fixing it.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  RRG will be back to running and good as new…eventually.