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21.4%

6 sessions out of 28. That’s how far along in my radiation I am. It’s an easy process – made even easier by the great staff at the UCLA radiation oncology department. I show up, lie down on the table on my back and lift up my shirt (I don’t even have to change into a gown). Damien, Maria and Jen move me around a little to line the laser pointer beams up with my tattoos and then the thing that shoots out the radiation rotates so it’s underneath me. Then I stay still while they leave the room and turn on the radiation. It’s a loud whirring sound. I try to count – one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand – every morning, and it’s generally right around 11- or 12-one-thousand when the sound stops. Then I’m done. Five, six minutes, tops. And I leave. Mondays I see the doctor for a couple minutes. The only side effect so far is that my stomach is a little upset most of the time. I pride myself on my usual steel stomach, but it feels a little mushy these days. They warned me about that. They say that the radiation is cumulative so I could potentially experience more side effects as the process goes on. I can live with the upset stomach I have now. Six down, 22 to go.

As for my training… I have not run since the Christmas Run 10k and am not sure when I’m going to get out and run again. The pain in my hip has gotten better – and I’m 100% certain (confirmed by a doc last week) that it’s a soft tissue problem – but it is still there and running hurts. Classic imbalance, weakness, overuse injury. So it’s time to take a step back, analyze what I did wrong and re-start. I will come back, but it’s going to take a little longer than originally planned.

Here’s what happened: I came out of surgery/recovery guns a’ blazing to prove to myself – and you – that I could bounce right back from major spinal surgery. Including the day of the surgery, I took 19 days completely off. Then I started easy. Hiking, easy swimming, a little bit of strength and yoga. So far, so good. But then I started running and then it was too much too soon. I planned to start with run/walk intervals, but got bored with that plan after about 10 days and started pushing the distance. The running wasn’t feeling good, but I convinced myself that I was just out of shape and more running was the key to better running. That was stupid. My hamstrings were tight and my hips/glutes were weak. “Were”. Still are.

So. I got a short-term membership to a gym near UCLA. And I’m gonna spend the next some number of weeks on the elliptical and doing strength workouts and swimming and hiking and cycling and doing yoga and stretching. But no running. None.

And when I do start running again, I’ll [hopefully] run because I’m ready. Mentally and physically.