On Tuesday I was doing something I do every day, which also happens to be something I never should do. Ever.
You see, I have this bad habit of carrying my 20 pound baby around on my hip while doing 8,762,278,128 other things simultaneously. This is not a good habit for a mom of three to have. I am usually very mindful about how I move my body. Self aware and cognizant of how I carry myself – abs engaged, shoulders back and relaxed, etc. Yet I am also always busy and NOT always concentrating on how I am moving while getting things done around the house. Especially in the mornings. I am really crazy in the mornings. So yesterday morning I ran upstairs with the baby so we could get ready to take my daughter to school and in the midst of my craziness I dropped a sock on the floor. No big deal, right? Well it is a big deal when you decide to bend down to pick up said sock while holding a 20 pound baby and a half full water glass…because rather than drop anything instead you move the wrong way and…TWEAK…There went my back.
Well, it didn’t GO anywhere necessarily, but it really just did not feel right. I tweaked it. My back is tight and not so happy with me.
I know this feeling all too well. It has happened to me three other times in my life, always when I am doing something trivial and not that interesting. Let’s review ~
- Three years ago I was standing in my kitchen pouring a bowl of cereal and I moved the wrong way and — TWEAK Ouch.
- The second time was when I was pregnant with Gus last winter. I was 9 months pregnant and I bent down to tie my shoe (a running shoe, I might add) and — TWEAK. Big ouch that time. (Having a tight lower back and a pissed-off SI joint while carrying around 40 extra pounds = very not fun times, in case you are wondering.)
- Then the third time it happened to me was one day this past spring when I was in the gym. I went to do a squat and — TWEAK. That was a real doozy. I actually sprained a ligament in my back that time and was in a lot of pain.
Each of these instances left me feeling really depressed and pretty much immobilized me or a few days. Which is really really awful when you are a mother of young children. And even worse when you are a mother who RUNS. I vowed that I would not ever let this kind of thing happen to me again. So yesterday when I felt this tweak I was really freaked out by it.
I went to see the amazing Dr. Wong today and he assured me that I am FINE. I have not injured myself and it is safe to run and my activities are not restricted. He expects me to feel all better by tomorrow. This is all WONDERFUL news and I am really thankful. But it may just be a little too close to comfort for my liking.
So now it is Wednesday and I am signed up for a marathon that happens in three days. I have decided to be undecided at this point. I need to wait and see how I feel on Friday before I decide to go for 13.1 or 26.2. I need to listen to my body and do right by it. My body has given me a lot over the past 9 months. First of all – A BABY!! Hello, what could be awesomer than that!? My body has given me major PRs in every race distance including 2 marathons. It has responded to the sleepless nights, the early mornings, the hard track workouts, the long runs, the racing…my body has soared through all of that without injury. My body deserves for me to listen to it. And that is what I will do. That has gotten me pretty far up to this point.
I will keep the big picture in mind here and know that no matter what I decide to do this weekend, Richmond is going to be a blast.
