I'm a Runner and I'm a Hypochondriac!

Hello . . . my name is Frank . . . and I'm a hypochondriac.

I guess I've been one for a number of years, but it's just within the last year where I have come to admit this . . . even to myself. It is a wonder I am ever able to enter a race due to all my medical issues (that reside primarily in my head!).

Luckily I almost always feel pretty good . . . I'm a pretty healthy guy. But just let anything out of the ordinary happen and I turn into "Hypochondriac Man."

Maybe it's a little headache and God forbid I sneeze once or twice. . . within 30 minutes I'm convinced I'm coming down with a really bad case of H1N1 . . . or worse! One misstep on a trail run and I'm re-developing serious knee problems. One good thing is I'm not one to run to the doctor every time. If I did the co-pays would kill me for sure!

Here is an example: A couple of months ago I was on a trail run in Kingsport, Tennessee. About 6 miles into the race, I made a bad step on a pretty technical downhill section and twisted my ankle as I went down. Immediately, I just knew I had broken at least two bones in my ankle. This was bad. First, I needed to crawl off the trail so others could get by (forgetting that I was probably in close to last place . . . guess the pain was really bad!).

Sitting there on my butt in pain (the pain was real!), I started thinking about how they might be able to airlift me up through the trees and off the mountain. After about 5 minutes of sitting beside the trail, I finally realized the only way I was going to be able to get off the mountain was to walk out . . . the airlift idea just wouldn't work very well. I did happen to have some rather strong pain pills with me , so I took them and then made a critical decision . . . even with my incredibly badly "broken" ankle, I started hobbling on down the trail. After maybe 10 minutes of walking I decided to try running some (needed to quickly get to medical help to survive!). Amazingly, running hurt no more then running. So I ran.

Could this have been some miracle? Was it the pain pills that allowed me to "tough it out" through the pain? I think we know the truth!

Just last weekend, I ran the Marine Corp Marathon. The next day I noticed the bottom my right forefoot was sore . . . like a stone-bruise. That night it hurt more. And I "noticed" some swelling. Oh no!! Stress fracture! Had to be! Wednesday it hurt even more! Could it be something WORSE then a stress fracture? What could have happened? Maybe a cleanly broken bone with some serious ligament damage too?

Surely I would not be able to run for at least a month! Maybe more. Heck . . probably more with all that ligament damage I could be out for MONTHS! Who knows . . . maybe this will end my running totally!

Well . . . it's Saturday night and another miracle has occurred. The pain is going away. Quickly! I did two hours on the ellipse machine this morning and I'm thinking I'll try running either tomorrow or Monday at the latest!

Yes . . . I'm a hypochondriac runner for sure! Luckily, there are no meeting to go to . . .