Sidelined Again

Two or three days ago - Thursday morning, I think - I noticed a sort of soft bulge in one side of my lower abdomen.  There was no pain, and in fact I went for a three-mile run that morning, worked out at the fitness center on Friday, and ran four miles on Saturday, all without pain.  This morning, the bulge seemed a little uncomfortable, and after running only a half mile or so, I turned back around and "walked it in," as we runners say.

I suspected from a search on the internet what the problem was - a hernia.  There were plenty of images, too, but they were just a little too anatomical for this blog.  My suspicion was confirmed by a very pleasant Nurse Practitioner named Anne Marie at  the Urgent Care Center in Kitty Hawk this morning, specifically a left inguinal hernia.  She was very sympathetic, as was the nurse who took my information - turns out she is a sometimes half-marathon runner herself - but it looks like there will be no running for the rest of our vacation out here.  Fortunately, I am not in any pain.  And, even more fortunately, a hernia is a usually harmless and relatively common injury for someone my age.  I thought of all the things a lump or swelling could have been, and I gave thanks.

So I'm waiting for a call from my doctor (who they refer to as my PCP - primary care provider) to see how quickly we can schedule surgery, which is the recommended treatment.  I understand surgery is a painless, outpatient procedure.  But the news, disappointing but not devastating, that Anne Marie imparted to me was that I will very likely be instructed not to run again for . . . four to six weeks after surgery.

That is a long time!  I think I was out for a week, possibly two, after eye surgery.  And I recall limping back from running injuries after a few days.  I don't think I have ever taken that much time off since I began running nearly four decades ago.  What will I do with myself?  I am still waiting to hear from my PCP, but a quick search on the internet tells me that I should limit my activities to water aerobics, stationary cycling, yoga, and dancing.  Reminds me of that David Bowie lyric:

Put on your red shoes

And dance the blues.

Looking on the bright side, rest is usually a good thing for a runner, and we often make things worse, as I have learned the hard way, by pushing too hard and not taking enough time off.  Many elite runners are said to take a month off every year, just to completely reset the body.  So it will be interesting to see how it all goes:  how quickly and carefully I can recover, and how imaginative I can be at finding things to take the place of running.