Tuesday, October 9, 2012

         Well, I really feel like Im back at it again, again. There are always lulls and these last nine months are no exception. In February, I thought for acouple of months that its probably just overtraining or whatever. In April, it was,"maybe Im aenemic or deficient, its gotta be something related to whatever Im putting into my body or not putting into my body, overtraining wouldn't last this long". Then, in May I did the rational thing, finally and went to see a doctor. Atrial Fibrillation was the answer. Nobody knew from whence it came but, my heart was all over the graph and my sinus rhythm was outta wack. 25% of my blood was going nowhere!
          Warfarin is structurally like Rat Poison. It thins your blood so when they install electrodes around your chest and back to shock your heart back into a regular sinus rhythm, the blood that has pooled in your heart doesnt send a clot to your brain causing a stroke.
          As the Anaesthesiologist was explaining what he was doing I woke up and the Cardiologist was gone and it had worked. It  happened that fast. I slept the afternoon away, that night, and was pretty out of it for a day or two. Then, a funny thing started to happen. I had more energy.
          The first run on Wildwood was amazing and not frustrating at all. I enjoy the laborous steps through Forest Park more so than all those trial runs before. I did a quick out and back savoring the sun and wind through the trees every step of the way. About a quarter mile from the car I felt it, the new beginning.
          Fast forward two weeks and Im not exhausted and have just got off the Metropolol that keeps my heart rate from jumping into the 180's on occasion. My muscles are recovering! I decided to take a solo trip into the Gorge up to Dublin Lake for some quiet time over the weekend. It was an eight mile hike up to the lake and I was walking at a brisk pace with my overnight goods. Walking down from the lake, i had an incredible urge to run so, I ran. I leapt off on a couple 100 meter strides and everytime I walked I felt like running. Jumping off rocks and dodging roots back to the car I knew Id be sore the next couple of days but, it all reminded me why those that enjoy this do it. It is so damn fun running down and around varied terrain. Running is like being completely still and in motion at the sametime. If you are running and not completely happy, your are not doing it right. Plain and simple. If you feel exhausted and are not enjoying anything about moving your body and mind through space, stop and rest. You just have to listen to and heed your bodies warnings.
         
           An Athelete cannot run with money in his pockets, he must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.      -Emil Zatopek