At this moment last year, I was not working out at all.  I was preparing to receive epidural shots in hopes that my back would begin to feel better.  I was struck by a drunk driver just 13 months prior and was frustrated to experience pain after a full year.  I wanted to let my body rest up before the shots so I slowed down my rehab work and stopped my cryotherapy sessions.  The shots did not work at all and were not worth the hassle.  In May, my doctors said this injury is permanent; you need surgery.  Bleh, I had better ideas. 

Of course, if you’ve been reading this you know that I have been rebuilding my body through fitness and rehab while using cryotherapy to manage the pain.  Its worked.  I’ve made my largest improvement gains since the surgery prognosis and feel much better.  I’m so grateful that I can ride on an airplane or take a long car trip without feeling like someone smacked me with a baseball bat.  Most of my pain is the S1, L4 and L5 area of my spine, but I feel almost no pain whatsoever in the 5 other impacted areas.  Praise God.  What a turnaround. 

Before for car accident, I was pushing myself with a consecutive day running streak.  I ran every single day for 506 days.  Seeing that streak come to an end was disheartening.  Chasing a new one became my next goal.

I started a new running streak on November 1.  Today marks day 100.  My goal is 1,000.   I’ve raised the stakes this time.  My goal isn’t just to run every day, but to average 3.5 miles and 42 minutes of non-running exercise per day. 

I am very happy and blessed to say that my averages are above pace at day 100 of this streak.  I’ve averaged 4.2 miles per day and have averaged additional 61 minutes in the gym.  When I’m not running, I make my rehab work and DDP Yoga the first priority.  I also mix in several exercises that focus on building core strength.  I’m not able to hit the weights too hard, but I enjoy slinging with kettle bells and hitting dumbbells and cables.

The reality is, I am further along at this moment without having surgery than I would have been with it.  I would still be recovering from the procedure if I went down that route last summer.   This workout streak would not have been a possibility.   Rebuilding my body through fitness and minimizing the pain through cryotherapy is going to take me to levels I couldn’t imagine before the car wreck.  I’m going to continue to progress through this streak while eventually training to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I had given up on the Boston dream long before the accident.  I’m too old, too slow, blah blah.  Silly voices in my head.  I believe I’ll qualify one day.  I don’t believe those voices in my head.  I also refused to believe the doctor who told me I’d never get better without surgery. 

I’ve got this. 

900 more days.

Let’s go streaking.

Go get it.