As I wrote yesterday, I had a great 13.3 mile run and expected to follow it today with another 8 miler, until I got up and realized I had back pain again. You can read about my ongoing struggles with back pain starting here, here, here,
here,
here, even here or most recently here. Hmm, guess I made my point that this is an issue that doesn’t go away, eh? I’m thinking that the combination of alot of hills, the distance and the new Mizunos that i’m not fully used to yet may have contributed to it, who knows. I decided to try to get out at 8am this morning, when it was 45 degrees out (and sunny), and I got about 1/8 a mile down the road and turned around. Too much pain the small of my back .. I thought i was done for the day.

So after coming in and basically bagging it for the day, I think the endorphins kicked in at that point because I used the heating pad, put on some Mineral Ice and rested for an hour. Amazingly the pain had subsided enough to make another attempt .. note the fact that my wife would have called me names like ‘Mr. Miserable’ and ‘Nasty Man’ and things along those lines because I got cranky. I NEED THAT DAILY RUN! So somehow I got myself dressed again and headed out at that point, now take note the temperature was 51 degrees out. I managed to get in 4.25 miles even though my back was sore … it was bad at first, but subsided as the endorphins continued to kick in.

Which leads me to the title of this post? Is running really addictive like a drug? I read a few articles about it, the first one states “running is as close to naturally flying as the human get”, and an article in the New York Times states just about the same. I’m not sure what it was today, but I was edgy, grumpy and just defeated thinking that its 8:30am in the morning, its almost 50 degrees out, and I can’t run. Then just 2 hours later, total euphoria after getting in a run! I’m not sure how I made it through the fall after the Marine Corps Marathon with not running as much as I did. I guess I was just busy ….

Ok, so one might say that i’m addicted, willing to put my body through any pain to get that run in … I guess thats what marathon training is all about. I know there hasn’t been one training cycle yet that I haven’t gone out in some sort of pain, I guess this is the first of many for the spring season. The good part is that my new shoes are doing me well, I think I’m hooked on them now .. they don’t seem to break down as fast either (like the other ones). Don’t get me wrong, they’re getting beaten, but not quite as bad.

So hopefully my back will feel better tomorrow .. the good part is that the weather is starting to break now, and the week is not going to be quite as brutal as its been. It should be easier to train this week, so this back better get well fast! I only hit 37 miles instead of 41 this week due to today, but I have 7 weeks until the OD 10-miler, and almost 13 weeks until the Lehigh Valley half (and 15 weeks if I do Delaware!) Lots of time to get miles in …

Its time to hit the heating pad and rest for the day ………