williamhathaway.com

I’m putting running on hold for a bit, so my new goal is to work on my upper body some more and be able to do some chin-ups/pull-ups.

LA Fitness has a cool machine that lets you apply different levels of counter-weights when trying a pull-up, so you can practice the full range of motion even when you can’t lift your whole body weight.

I just went for a bike ride at the Conewago trail and I think I dropped my iPod  in the parking lot while wrestling my bike into the back of my car.  If you happen to be a kind person who found my iPod and are googling ‘William Hathaway 10 years @ Versatile’ to figure out who owns it, please contact me at bill.hathaway@gmail.com or 717-314-461. I’ll be happy to give a cash reward or a donation to charity.  Thanks!

I had blogged awhile ago about a UC Berkley course informally titled “Physics for Future Presidents” that I had listened to on my iPod and found really enjoyable.  The professor has just released a book version meant for the casual reader (you don’t need to be a physics egghead at all).  I found my copy when I got home on Friday and am about 1/3 through it.  If you have any interest in learning about things that a “future president” should know about terrorism, energy, nukes, space, and global warming etc… to help make policy decisions, this book is a fantastic read, I’d highly recommend it.

Amazon Link

If you are someone I see on a regular basis and want to borrow my copy, just let me know.  I’ll be done with it by Tuesday at the latest.

The administrative paperwork phase of the appointment was an almost otherworldly hassle, but I had an MRI of my lower left leg taken at Drexel’s Hahnemann Hospital in Philly today.  Hopefully I will hear something back on the results early next week that will add some clarity to my issues.

I got a reminder email from the Harrisburg Half-Marathon that it is 6 weeks away.  I had signed up for the race about a week before I got injured, it is probably a coin-toss at this point if I will be running in it.

Thanks for all the kind comments and emails I’ve received, I appreciate it!

Got the electrolyte test results back, my potassium/magnesium/calcium levels appear within the normal ranges.  I was hoping that electrolytes would be the problem since that can easily be  fixed with a couple of dollars for short-term supplements and in the longer term by changing eating habits.

My doctor is still trying to work with the insurance company to get approval for the MRI.

I tried two runs this week.  Both I had to cut pretty short because my legs were bothering me and I’ve been having minor muscle spasms in my lower left leg still on a regular basis.  I was able to go back and see my doctor today.  He had me get a blood test for electrolyte levels (hopefully have that back Monday) due to muscle spasms and is trying to get my insurance company to cover an MRI.  I’ll be in Philly all next week, but if my insurance company will cover the MRI there are plenty of hosptials where I can get the scan done there.  If all goes well I can get a scan and have the results analyzed by the end of the week.

Since we still aren’t sure what the problem is, I’m a bit nervous about doing more biking.  While biking doesn’t have any impact, it still stresses the muscles and tendons.  I ordered a mini stationary hand-bike from Amazon which should be here tomorrow.   I’ll try using that with my arms and see if I can keep some of my cardiovascular conditioning until I know what exercises I can safely do.

I just got a call back from the doctor’s office.  The x-ray was normal, so I was told to start running again and see if I am still feeling pain or other leg weirdness.  If so, I’ll let the doctor know and we will move on to further diagnostics.

I’m going to try running a few miles tomorrow morning and see how it goes.

Since the middle of last week, I’ve sometimes felt a tingly sensation in my lower left leg.   On Monday I called to make a doctor’s appointment since this didn’t feel like the common muscle/tendon strain injuries I’ve had in the past.  My previous doctor had switched to a different practice since my last visit, so I just asked the facility to give me whoever I could see the soonest.  Like the NY Times article, I did think about asking if they had any doctors who ran, but ended up not bothering to.  I figured I would get a random doctor and would just see how I liked them.  They couldn’t get me in until Friday afternoon.

I have been really reducing my run volume for the last week and bought a  bike (sort of a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike, which seemed a good fit for long rail-trail rides) last Thursday on which I’ve spent about 6 hours riding so far.

I met with the new doctor today and he seemed pretty sharp and communicated well.  His first suspicion was that I had a stress fracture or possibly a tendon issue from the marathon and/or post-marathon running.

He sent me out for an X-ray, which I was able to get taken in about 30 minutes.  That was definitely quicker than I was expecting.  I was able to get printouts of my X-rays, which I thought looked pretty neat.  Hopefully a radiologist will interpret it this afternoon or Monday morning and we will know if it is a stress fracture.  If not, we will see if I am still getting the odd sensations next week, and if so, go for an MRI scan.

I think my biggest failing here was mistaking quick cardiovascular recovery from the marathon to thinking my body wasn’t beaten up.  I should have taken a week off from running and just rode a bike.  Oh well, live and learn.

For the readers who are interested in Solaris/systems technical content, I have started posting that on my work blog:

http://blogs.versatile.com/systems

I had’t seen anything posted on the race director’s website yet, so I emailed him and he sent me a copy of the results.