MRI Countdown

In two days, I'll have had my back MRI. In a week, I'll have the results. Strangely, I don't expect to find too much wrong with the back. Something's wrong, but I don't expect it to be anything scary or requiring surgery.

It will, represent a kind of transition for me, however. I'll have to decide what next to do. I never dreamed when I started running, that I'd arrive at this point when I might possibly transition out of competitive running. When a job, relationship, social-family life is on the rocks, running is a great mollifier. I've lived in some shabby places, lost jobs, changed girlfriends a couple of times and seen my parents grow too old to do most of what I associate them with.

The running is a palliative. But there's a caveat: I need competition as a motivator. Without that carrot, I might run, but it's just exercise. The highest runner's high I've had has always been running well. This year, I ran two solid half-marathons, but hated running in them both because I knew I might not make it due to injury. I'm still injured and have had a good running career, but what to do next is a strange quandry.