Running Anyways

20 Feb 2021

“I may regret this…” - Reinhardt

That was one fun run to start off my weekend. The starting line was packed like sardines. I was hobbling then sitting, then stretching, then hobbling again. I couldn’t get the stitch out of my back. The past three days I’ve been waking up feeling great. No back issues. But today. Today had to be the day that it came back. Getting out of bed and not being able to stand straight without a little tweak in my back.

I’d gone to many physio appointments when this was a much more drastic issue. I couldn’t stand straight for days after runs or any exercise really. Missed some work days :) Originally the injuries were few and far between. But now. It’s like every morning is a gamble, old man or average joe. But thankfully, I have the physio stretches and exercises that I do most days to get moving right again. So it never really gets that bad anymore. But usually it takes a few hours of working and stretching during the day to get back to 100%. And today I didn’t hvae the luxury of time. It was 8:45 am (15 minutes to race time) and I was limping like Igor assisting Frankenstein.

I tried small jobs but then the back pain wouldn’t let me go far. So I went back to walking. When I could find a bench closer to the race starting line I would sit and stretch my back. Then I would try to job a little more. It was starting to work but time was counting down. I was so close to calling it quits before the race. But then resolved that I might as well do it if other people with worse impediments are strong enough, then I could too. So I pinned my race bib onto the right thigh of my shorts. And ran to use the toilets before the start. But then realized those toilets were the ladies stalls and I had no clue where the mens stalls were.

T-minus 1 minute and 30 seconds. I said f*ck it and convinced myself that 6.5km wasn’t too bad. I could hold it in and hobble my way to the finish line. And before I could finish the thought, we were off.

Everyone was so packed close to each otehr that we all just walked over the starting line. After passing the line pepole started to do light jogging. I thought now or never and started with a light jog and much smaller steps than I was used to. My back was holding up as long as I didn’t do anything drastic.

I found myself slow but consistently overtaking people walking and others taking some time walking. It was motivating CRUSHING competition :P just kidding haha It was nice to see families and friends running together. I did find that my consistency had me overtaking some people who sprinted in the beginning. So it was reassuring that I would make it through the race if I kept it up.

To my surprise, my back felt like it was slowly getting better than I thought it would. I could feel the stitch in my lower back going away. I did the stretching earlier to try and relieve it so I know the muscles weren’t tense. I guess the muscles that support my spine just needed to wake up. It was a freeing feeling.

It was definitely nice to run outside today as well. Running Oriental Bay to Evan’s Bay on a sunny but overcast day was nothing short of a blessing. Motivating to be outdoors amongst others that take care of their health and support charities. And not to mention the waterfront houses and buildings looking into the bay were nice to look at and distract from my back.

Before I knew it, I was already making my way past Greta Point and into Evan’s bay. And I could see the wind sculpture near the finish line.

32 minutes for 6.5 km. Not bad for someone that started with a bad back. I’d say joining the run club really helped get me back into running. I forgot how liberating it is to move again. But freedom comes at a price. For me that’s stretching before and after.

I will definitely keep this up. It may not have been easy and I still have much more ground to cover. I do want to get better and faster. But today is a small win and I’m glad that despite my back, I went running anyways. (See what I did there :P hahaha)

Wellington does have much to offer. I think it’s time I gave it a little more of a chance. I feel like I long for more days like these. And yeah some days I don’t feel like doing sh*t and thats ok sometimes. But I’m glad I did more than nothing today :)

Signed, Reinhardt