I've never really had back problems, definitely never missed training or racing because of a bad back. But on Friday the 13th of 2013 I slipped and fell on ice. The following day I was registered to do a trail race, the epic 7 mile Pere Marquette Trail race. Leslie and I drove up the night before to her grandma's house and I slept on the floor of Leslie's old bedroom. The following morning, my lower back was hurting and I just assumed it was from sleeping on the floor, didn't think much of it. But over the following several weeks, as I continued to train and run, the back pain continued and got worse, growing into pain radiating down my left butt cheek and my left sciatic nerve.
It took a long time, many doctor visits, x-rays, epidurals, and MRI's to finally get a definitive diagnosis - bulging/herniation of the L4 and L5 discs in my back. Along the way, I learned I also have osteoarthritis in my left hip, most likely resulting from the 2006 triathlon where I was hit by a van. According to several experts, I should be running on my hip, which is why I will be doing more trail running and shorter/faster quality running workouts.
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MRI from June of 2014
MRI January of 2015
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This evening I rode my mountain bike hard for an hour on some challenging/technical single track and am sitting at my desk typing on my computer, something I couldn't really do a year ago!
