January 22,    Sunday –   Noon?

I’m thinking about a lot of different things today. So this is likely to be a rambling narrative and I’m not quite sure where it’s going to go. First I’m trying to decide as I sit here whether to run today or not. I have been having a nagging ache in my upper right leg. I ran some pretty serious workouts last week which I was very happy with. On Friday I went to the clubhouse with intention of beginning to do some core and weight training for the first time since my eye operation in December. I was also looking forward to swimming for the first time, putting my head in the chlorine pool after five weeks. Well I cut the weight room/ core activity short because I felt some soreness in my abdomen at the sight of my three-year-old hernia operation. I went into the pool to begin a light swimming event, but the soreness reappeared as I started to swim. I ended up sitting in the whirlpool feeling sorry for myself for about 20 minutes. So this mild but obvious pain in my abdomen along with this other leg pain has continued for the last three days. I do not know for sure that the two are connected, but it does seem ominous. Now, in the last three years I have on occasion previously had a similar situation where I had pain in the area of my hernia scar which has lasted a few days and the pain disappeared. I’m hoping that is what is happening right now. After the operation Dr. Davidow  told me that occasionally you can get a pulled muscle in that area because it has obviously been compromised by being cut open. Even though it heals, it is still subject to weakness. None of this uncomfortable soreness or pain has ever expressed itself while I was actually running. I could clearly feel it doing core work and swimming on Friday. So I’m still trying to reconstruct what’s going on, hoping that the intensity of last week’s work caused the discomfort in this area and it will soon resolve itself.  Of course my greatest fear is that the hernia has recurred.  So as I construct this post I continue to wonder if I should get a short run in today before the Nor’easter attacks for the next two days, or should I simply let things settle down and take off two days. Added into the mix is the fact that I will probably lose two days of training as we drive to Florida on Friday and Saturday. All arrangements are in place here in Jackson and in Saint Augustine, and I am very excited about training in some good weather. All indications are my mind will settle on attempting a 30-minute moderate run as soon as I’m finished with this post.

On another note I was struck yesterday as I sat in the Tom’s River Bubble watching two or three thousand people gathered to compete for the New Jersey Group IV state relay championship.  SO many people focused on engaging in healthy, intense, spirited, yet good-natured  competition.  All happening while millions of people were marching In protest in just about every city in America while a newly elected president was arguing about who had the biggest crowd.  I can’t resolve in my brain which of these two phenomena are more significant.  One seems to represent everything about being a person that is right and normal, the other is just unnerving.  As it turns out the Hillsborough boys 4 x 800 meter relay  won a very exciting race. That was the race I had come to watch. The race produced a wonderful sport’s story that will probably not get too much attention. The Hillsborough anchorman, Mitch Baron, anchored the same race last year.  His team gave him a sizable lead going into the anchor leg last year. Unfortunately Mitch was caught and the team finished third.  Mitch was devastated and believed he had let the team down. Today Mitch received the baton in third place and ran down the two runners ahead of him to bring his team home first and win the State Championship. What a great story of redemption!  All this while millions of people marched around the world to display that they are unnerved. And I have a pain, and we are heading to Florida, and the Giants are out of the playoffs, and I need to go for run, and I need a beer.??  Slainte!