Running: 36 Miles - 8000' // Mountain Biking: 7 Miles - 942'

     

       It has been awhile since I have used this space to jot things down. After a rough couple of months of a bulged disc from too many heavy kettle bell swings and a fractured rib cage from mountain biking, things seem to be on the up and up again. I have been running consistently with bits of mountain biking and hopefully some skiing thrown in soon.
       I have not been smoking weed and have not wanted to. Still lots of edibles though! Diet seems to be okay with periods of chocolate muffins at work. Typical with quitting smoking for me, I have had a lot of phlegm and head aches for the first couple of weeks. As of now, more than a month later, I am feeling much better. Coffee has been affecting my stomach in the mornings and have felt much better switching back to tea. Tea also has a much more calm energy.
       After taking am easier week over Thanksgiving I have felt better and noticed improvements on my daily runs. I am able to run longer steeper hills while keeping everything relaxed and I feel that I can handle more than before. Ill keep my mileage around where it currently is until Christmas a reel it back in over the holidays. Most likely do more hiking and less hills to give the ankles a break. The inside of my left knee is present, but not bad. It is the only thing I really need to keep an eye on right now.

         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


          

Atrial Fibrillation

          So alot has changed. Blood and Holter Monitor tests were being anticapated. Energy was down. Progression was on the up and up. We were waiting for answers. Well, now we have them.
An irregular heart rate called Atrial Fibrillation was cause to low energy levels. Atrial Fibrillation could be considered a down side to Adrenaline producing activities such as coffee and energy drinks, to that feeling you get before race day, among many, many others. Since the heart is pumping at an irregular rate, blood pools and doesn't get to where it needs to be, in the rest of the body.
          Well, I have been shocked. Literally. The moment we had been waiting and preparing for has come and gone. I have been taking Warfarin, a blood thinning pill used for many other uses that is similar to Rat poison, for the greater part of two months. Warfarin thins your blood so when the doctors set you up with an I.V. and the accompanying electrodes to convert you electrically, you dont release a clot to your brain and have a stroke. With a Cardioversion, the goal is for the cardiologist to find the regular Sinus rhythm within your heart beat and shock it into being your continuous rate.
          Conversion complete and sinus rhythm regular, all those things that have been swimming around in my head can finally get slowly released and I can begin to have a more intimate friendship with an old confidant that has brought me many past joys and shown me so many great things about my world. With all the past weeks of hoping this moment was around the corner it has brought to me the fragility of running. Once attained, the simple act of moving one foot consciously and soon, subconsciously in front of the other, can bring an amazing amount of joy.
          To leave you with a taste,

          These are some of the best reasons to get out there and devote my life to efficient bi-pedal movement.