To date my blog postings have been on the light and humorous side, because well I thrive on humor. Without laughter in my day, I cannot survive. I was brought up in a family where quips and humorous observations were as good as a hug. Therefore most of my blog postings will be quirky and observational with a side of sarcasm, but not today.
Today will be a more open and honest reflection of the past week and the week ahead.
In the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” he writes:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Due to health issues I am dealing with, this week meant the road less traveled was actually the road (or treadmill) not traveled at all.
For those of you that are already thinking TMI (for the un-cool kids I will spell that out for you, TMI = too much information), then I suggest you stop reading now.
I was diagnosed with Endometriosis about ten years ago, which is a condition that causes the lining of your uterus (to clarify this only applies to women, If you are a man do not panic, you do not have a uterus so this cannot happen to you) grows outside of where it should and attaches itself to places it does not belong, such as your bladder, bowel, fallopian tubes, etc., which can cause mild to severe cramping and pain. It also at times causes severe lower back aches and many women with this condition also experience IBS and stomach cramping. Lucky me won the endometriosis lottery and was dished out all of the symptoms.
All in all a very fun disease with lots of fun little side effects that have made running this past week near impossible. It took every ounce of strength I had in me just to go to work this week and not crumple into a pile of tears at my desk.
My condition has been getting worse in terms of pain over the past five years and for the last six months my pain level has been between manageable and chronic and continues to get worse. I made a decision recently to have surgery in hopes that my surgeon will be able to remove much of the scar tissue build up and allow me two or three years of minimal to possibly no pain. I am having the surgery this coming Thursday and therefore will be laid up in recovery at home for at least a week.
My point, I do have a point and it is coming soon. Between this past week of no running due to debilitating pain and this coming week of surgery and the recovery time after the surgery, I am really starting to panic about the “road less traveled” and although Robert Frost seems to think it was a good thing – I am thinking not so much.
BUT, and big but here…I am still planning on training and running. I have convinced myself that I can still do this and I will do this.
I am going to prove to myself that I can still take on this challenge.
My point….I told you I had one and here it is….(drum roll please)
I am sharing this very personal and private part of my life with you because of two reasons
1.) The drugs I am taking to ease the pain have got me loopy as hell
2.) I am tired of every person that I tell that I am training to run the marathon responding to me with “I could never ever run a marathon” and to that I say bull****!
Whatever your goal in life is if you want to do it, do it already, saying you can’t is just a reason for you not to try in the first place.
Of course please make your goal a reasonable goal, no matter how much you put your mind to it you probably will not succeed at having Brad Pitt’s twenty-eighth baby, but hey good for you for trying.
