Uh-oh

Something has gone awry with my back. I went for a nine-mile run on Sunday and all yesterday afternoon my back was giving me twinges. This morning when I got up it was awful. I almost fell over at the gym when I reached out at an awkward angle. I'm leaning on things to bend over like a broken-down old person. I think one of my leftover giant post-surgery ibuprofen pills and my back bag are in order when I get home. I made it through all those months of training for the half marathon without injury, at least. But after all that running...why am I only now experiencing a problem?

Even if my 9-mile run yesterday blew out one of my discs or caused a stress fracture in one of my vertebrae...it was one of the nicest runs I've had in ages. The weather was perfect and the fall scenery could not have been more gorgeous. It was so nice to just get out and run for fun and not because I had to. The only thing that spoiled the run was the rotten little motherfucker of a Jack Russel terrier that charged me and nipped me twice on the ankles. That stupid little shitty dog deserved a sound kick or two but the best I could do was do a couple of lame mule-kicky things with my feet that I think glanced off its snarling, yappy little head. Stupid fucking dog. That late in my run (this was around mile 8) the flood of adrenaline that resulted from basically being attacked made me little light-headed and my heart rate zoomed up. I spent the rest of the run at a faster pace as I thought of creative ways to take revenge on that dog. I'll have to remember the house from whence it came and keep an eye out on subsequent runs.