I realize the last time I wrote an update here was February 2020. Yikes. I was all guns blazing heading into my bikini competition prep. But, we all know what happened the very next month. The C word: Covid. I tried so hard to stick with the training. Truly. I worked out in the garage, I stress ate vegetables. I even had a training session in a mask. You haven’t lived until you’ve done leg day in a mask. But after about a month of being super stressed and wearing a mask to train on heavy equipment, I just couldn’t do it. It was sad and I still think about starting it up again. But then, I see cake and think….nah. All jokes aside, that training is so hard and I’d really need to be in a different head space. Currently, all I want to do is run. And, my friends, I can’t.

*Queue Sad Trombone*

Let’s back up real quick. I finished up 2020 with a return to running. And eating. Ha. I went back to my “normal” body weight. It was super weird at first – I felt huge. I am not huge. I know this. But, keep that in mind if you want to go into body building. The body dysmorphia is a bitch. Anyway, from the end of 2020 to the week after Thanksgiving, this year, I’ve been back to running. I swam in a 70.3 relay in 2021 (Musselman) and I did a sprint tri over the summer, but mostly running. I even did a marathon (Grandma’s). I was FINALLY starting to feel like my old running self in November, when I bent over to pick up some weights and twisted just slightly to look in a different direction and down I went. After a dramatic ambulance ride to the ER, a CT scan showed two bulging discs in my back (L4 & L5 in case you care). I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy. Not that I have worst enemies, but if I did, I’d wish they had A+ spines for their whole lives.

So I’m now two and a half weeks post initial injury and the healing process is happening. Of course, it’s not linear or as fast as my impatient ass would like, but it is healing. I’ve been swimming (like molasses) and walking (like a turtle) and going to PT (like uh…I don’t know).

Here are a few things I’ve learned about backs since this all went down:
1. If you are going to hurt your back, you will do it in the stupidest way possible.
2. When bending, don’t twist.
3. Take stand up breaks if you sit at a desk all day.
4. Learn some good back stretches and start doing them.
5. Back issues affect a buttload of people – ranging from young(ish) to old, and very fit to not at all fit.

Let my stupid back injury be a lesson to you. I’ll try to write more about my progress and what’s been working. I will also try not to let another two years go by before I post again.

P.S. I guess blogging is back? It’s what the news said. So it’s gotta be true, right?