The mass choas that is final preparation for a marathon

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The mass choas that is final preparation for a marathon

Well, I leave tomorrow morning for Chicago. I haven't run all week, I don't think it is the best idea for marathon prep but life got in the way and my thinking was the rest will do more good than any slow jogging now. My body is tired and really needs the rest, I had better get some good sleep the next 2 nights because I can never sleep the night before a marathon.

Also on the not a good idea list is wearing shoes for the first time in a marathon. Well, not exactly the first time but they haven't been out for a run yet. I meant to last weekend but it was wet and didn't want to get them dirty then I planned on running a few nights this week but that didn't pan out. I did wear them around the house and around work for several hours at a time to try to stretch them out a little. I have never had foot or shoe problems before so let's hope that continues. I will bring 2 other pair just in case.

shoes - check
socks - check
shorts - check
underwear - check
shirt - check
warm sweatpants and sweatshirt for start and gloves - check, check and check.
band aids- check
Vaseline - check
stamina for 26.2 miles - we'll find out!

Quote of the day: "What are you legs? Steel springs. What are they going to do? Hurl me dow the track. How fast can you run? Fast as a leopard. How fast are you going to run? fast as a leopard. Now let's see you do it!" - Gallipoli

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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.

DMRF's Accidental Hero - I run because I can!

Thursday, October 8, 2009