That is the question the next 10 days. I am trying to eat right, get enough rest, and drink lots of water, that's all I can do now. There is no training I can do now to get me ready, only finish the training program I am on and pray for the best.
I ran a terrible long run Sunday and was OK Tuesday for the tempo run, but ran an easy five last night and did the last mile I ran faster than I have in months. I was blowing by walkers, bikers and even a few cars, OK that may be slightly exaggerated. That was the speed I wanted to see in the 5K on Saturday!
I was immediately reminded of something I read somewhere, "Don't have your best runs be your training runs around your neighborhood." I probably shouldn't have gone ahead and done the sprint at the end but it was the first time I had wanted to in a long time. For nothing else that is one positive I can take from it. Running has become more laborious than fun the last month or so and I needed to get that fun back.
Quote of the day: "People rarely unless they have fun at what they are doing." - Dale Carnegie
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Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
My Story
Most of it contained in the blog somewhere but I will summarize here: I started to notice symptoms during my freshman year of college. They were subtle little hints like I was more difficult to chew and had some twitching in my face. And when I got nervous my voice would become very tight and strained, this was true from middle school but was getting worse. By the end of my sophomore year I knew something was physically wrong, it was nothing mental.
I was luckily diagnosed very quickly compared with most dystonia patients around 1990. I quickly sought treatment, and quickly ran throuh the numerous meds I had tried, Botox was used but I became immune, surgery was done in 1995 which helped my pain greatly but didn't do anything for the voice.
In 1999 I went to NYC, to a doctor I considered the finest mind in the dystonia field at the time, and he suggested an experimental study they were doing called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). This was the first I had heard about DBS, I went back to my aunts house in NJ and thought about it for a few days and decided against it at the time. I still think it was the correct decision but I also made a wrong decision out of desperation during that visit. Instead of waiting for them to improve the DBS technology I opted for a palidotomy, which permently alters the brain. The surgery left my speech garbled instead of breathy when I went in.
I was now following the progress of DBS and checked it out in Chicago in 2001, decided to hold off a litle longer. In 2004 I went back to Chicago and opted for the surgery at this time, fully aware the affects on the voice were really an X factor, but likely no change. I had the surgery done but the DBS had yet to be turned on, that came a month later. So I laughed when people said I looked better during the first month! After a month passed and my body adjusted to the new hardware I had installed it was turned on and the facial spasms started going away with each fine tuning that came once a month.
I love to talk to dystonia patients (the nicest people on the planet, not quite sure why that is - maybe it is the empathy that comes with realizing you have to live with dystonia.) Feel free to email me at Brianst@sbcglobal.net.
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About Me
- Accidental Hero
- Brian is running on behalf of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation (DMRF) in the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. This blog chronicles his training efforts.
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