Anxieties about my first race, post back injury

I woke up a little after 3 AM and am getting ready for the Blue Hawaii Norman Tamanaha 15 K this morning. This will be the farthest distance I’ve run all year. I’ve been telling my friend Rich, that lately I have a lot of anxiety before these races. Maybe because I wake up so early, and there’s no one to talk to, and then I head out in the dark morning to run with a bunch of strangers… I’m not the competitive type, so I don’t really enter these to compete.. I enter them because they help keep my training on track. I’m hoping to complete the marathon in 2009, but a setback occurred in April where I threw my back out pretty badly for the first time in my life, and I’ve been going regularly to a chiropractor ever since.

Before my injury I was doing pretty good with my training. Now I’m kinda nervous but still giving it a shot before throwing in the towel.

Almost two months after throwing my back out in April, I threw it out again in June: I had run 8 miles, and felt good about things, met a friend for some drinks that night, went to work the next morning, and by 10 AM it had locked up real tight. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as the initial time where I had to stay home from work for a couple of days, but it still hurt when I walked and moved in certain ways. I went to the chiropractor that day and he asked if I’d hydrated. When I thought about it, I really hadn’t and I’m sure the trip to the bar the night after my run didn’t help matters. He advised me to drink a gatorade on the way home and try to stay hydrated every day.

Of course, I get super paranoid about hydration now. heh. The second time my back got thrown wasn’t as severe as the first, but it set my training back for 3 weeks while I rested. My lower back pain seems to also be connected to my left leg. When I throw my back out, I feel like I’m standing a little crooked, and when I swing my left leg forward to take a step, I feel pain in my lower back. I also started to feel pain in my left sciatic nerve, which runs from the bottom of the spine to the leg. It’s not a terrible pain so much as a weird almost crampy feeling along the nerve. Each morning I wake up and my back feels stiff. Sleeping on harder surfaces usually results in a stiffer back. My sister, luckily, had a twin size tempurpedic mattress her husband had given her before they got married. She’s been kindly letting me use it and I think it really makes a difference. I also bought a small tempurpedic pillow to go with it and believe they are pretty comfortable together. This morning I woke up with some stiffness and will do my back stretches before heading out the door.

For breakfast, I just ate a piece of toast with jelly on it, and am trying to down some water before I have to leave. I should probably head out the door around 4 or 4:15 this morning. Hopefully this goes well and I enjoy the experience and don’t get any further injuries. I’m trying to get into a positive mode for this run. I missed the Nosaj Thing concert for this..