2008 Season RIP

I won't be racing any more in 2008. It's discouraging. But I went for it and failed. I trained 2,000 mostly painful miles in the first eight months of the year... I should have had my back treated. Rather, I ran on legs that were connected to a badly alligned body, and paid the price. I went in to this year with the mantra of ONE MORE SEASON.


Willing to beat myself up to be in race shape, I ran lots of miles and became lighter than I've been since I was 13, to get near three hours in the marathon. But it's a no-go.

After this year, I wanted decide where to take my running. But something was wrong from the start. I was sore, slow to recover, and in constant fear that the minor pains in my IT band, periformis, shin, and most of all, knee, would intensify and sideline me. I wasn't enjoying my running.

But the first week of my taper, my back pain turned serious, replete with spasms and shooting pain when sitting(which I do a lot of)and a frame that looked cubist in the mirror; dislocated, curved and a little scary. I finally whent to my doctor; he was agahst. From that point on, I knew my chances of running any more races this year were remote.

So it's been a month of anti-everything meds, Physio, getting MRIs and X-rays; I'm trying to keep my chin up through this. But I fought the law of nature by running hurt and running too much. The jury's in. The law won.