Back at 'er - May 31, 2010

So you know something is up when I don't do a blog post for so long, Typically, I write a blog posting when I am really emotionally up.
The back injury that I had never really seemed to go away. The past couple of months were filled with continuous waves of hope, then depression.
After 5 trips to the chiropractor to straighten my back out, I then went to the physio to get some rehab exercises to strengthen me up, and to get rid of my low back pain. 5 trips later, I still was not running. Frustrating. It was the first time I had traction done, and that was cool, but the lack of improvement was not cool.
I learned that my back injury was a strained facet joint ligament. I did not hurt my back running; it seemed that some of the furniture moving I did over spring break did it. However, the Comox 1/2 Marathon did hurt it more, and is likely the reason why this injury lingered on for so long.
So 2 months of no running. Water running and spin biking was the diet for a while. And core exercises - thanks to the physio. I actually stayed in reasonable shape for most of the time, but the last few weeks I could feel myself losing my fitness.
Now, my back is about 95%. It basically just took time. More time than anyone would have guessed, but as long as I am back operating as normal eventually, it doesn't matter to me too much. I missed 4 key running events (Sooke 10k, TC 10k, E/B 50k, and the Oak Bay 1/2 Marathon). I did spend time at the latter 3 either volunteering, or cheering on my family who was participating.
I have now been running for the past 3 weeks. I rejoined my PIH running group 3 Tuesdays ago, and I was pretty impressed with how quickly I rebounded. The past 2 weeks at the TNW, I have been literally at the front, so it appears that my speed did not suffer too much from the injury. However, my distance is nowhere near where it was, and I would struggle to complete 20k right now. I did do a 16k training run yesterday (and actually hit 40k in 3 days of running last week), but it certainly was not easy.
So, there we go. I am back.
This weekend, I am taking part in the Duncan 8k - a new event, but one I am looking forward to immensely.