Almost four months. That is how long it has been since I last posted. Did you miss me?

Part of my absence has to do with some post-NYC Marathon blues. The other part has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that I have fallen from fitness. It’s not my fault and it is not like I’m enjoying this time off.

It all started on December 14th. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Wednesday. I drove to work and parked my car where I always do, gathered my things and started my walk across the parking lot to the office when BAM!, my back seized up on me and started spasming out of control. I froze. Unsure of what I was supposed to do. It was like I had been shot in the small of my back. Realizing that I couldn’t stand out there forever, I slowly started walking again, hopeful that it was nothing.

I made it to my office, shut my door and was immediately on the floor on my back. I called the chiropractor and made an appointment for later that day. After a few appointments, I still wasn’t better. Given that we were in the process of moving, too, I stopped going. By December 28, I was still toast and getting worse. My left foot dropped and the “tingling” feeling down my left leg was extremely painful.

On December 31, I made my first appointment with the Carolina Back Institute and was immediately referred to get an MRI. As suspected by the new docs, I have a ruptured L5 disk and part of the fragments are sitting right on a nerve root.

I’ve now had two steroid injections and am feeling a little relief from the pain. Enough relief, according to the docs, that I have been cleared to start Physical Therapy. My first appointment is on Thursday. We’ll see what happens.

What have you done when sidelined by a significant injury?