S1 Day 9

[Susan]

HI everyone,

This is Day 9....unfortunately, Days 5-8 were sort of lost in space due to commitments. I am going to catch up with them shortly. I don't really want to miss a single day of this journey.

Last week, I went for my usual Monday evening run and felt fabulous. About a half hour after I got back, I had no strength whatsoever in my right knee and could barely climb stairs....but I could walk just fine. I decided not to run again until I healed whatever needed healing and so I tried to run again only on Saturday. I walked my usual 6-7 minutes and just made one little hop run start and knew it was no use. I tried it three times and it was a bust. But I walked 6 km anyway. I got home fine but my knee started to swell once I had stopped walking so I got in the pool hoping the water would help. Nope....started limping and couldn't sleep because of the pain.

My point to this whole story is that I read something a while back in Runner's World magazine by Dr. John Sarno :

In order to distract ourselves from the rage and sorrow of life, the brain will cut down on the oxygen supply to a targeted section of the body, creating a socially acceptable physical problem such as back pain, or a tight piriformis. Sarno calls this tension myositis syndrome (TMS), although the diagnosis is not recognized by mainstream medical science. Painful conditions attributed to structural problems are often not structural at all, he believes. He points to the relatively low rate of success for back surgery, and to the fact that X-rays or MRIs of people who are pain-free often show the same irregularities that can be used to justify surgery in others.

In other words, our brain creates body pain to take the focus off psychological pain. Isn't our brain a marvellous organ? This makes so much sense to me.

I know I am off the track of my intentions and so on, but I am presently weeding out a lot of negative things and so quite possibly, my brain decided that I shouldn't deal with all that pain right now....here's a nice old sciatic nerve pain to change your mind.

Anyway, I know I have to get back on track because whatever the brain did or did not do, not being able to continue my training has made me want to eat and that is never a good thing. I don't like this side of me.

So, I want to get back the positive energy of last week and push forward with my life.

Until later...

Susan

[Seisrush Ob]

Stay positive!
The pool is the best thing for you, too. Water aerobics, or water fitness, is great because it lessens the impact on the joints because of the bouyancy in the water. It is my understanding that foods high in omega-3 (or supplements like fish oil pills which contain it) help with the body's natural joint lubrication system. In my case, its also partially hereditary so I'm taking care of my knees now! hehe