Well, this isn’t the way I wanted to start 2018.
Late Tuesday, I noticed some lower abdominal pain (below the belt), which I thought was odd, but when I got up Wednesday morning, I felt fine, and even went for a run. Later Wednesday, though, the pain came back. When I woke up Thursday morning, I still felt the pain, so I didn’t run. The pain got worse throughout the morning, so that afternoon, I went to Urgent Care to get it checked out. They thought I might have a hernia, and sent me to the ER. I had some tests done, an ultrasound and a CT scan, and they determined I had a small hernia, but it didn’t involve any intestines poking through, just fat tissue. I have an appointment scheduled with a surgeon next Friday, and then I’ll know more.
As far as running, it’s just a matter of pain management. I mean, I was able to run Wednesday morning. I’m not going to push it, I’ll stick to fairly short easy miles, no workouts or long runs, just to try to hang on to what little fitness I still have, but if I’m not in pain, I can run.
I had to defer the Charleston Half Marathon until next year. It was only $15 to defer, and since I waited too long to make a hotel reservation for this year’s race and ended up in a hotel that was a bit more expensive than I would have liked, I’ll most likely save more than $15 on next year’s hotel. Also, I pretty much knew I wasn’t in PR shape, so I’m not too upset about deferring.
I have no idea what caused my hernia, although it almost certainly wasn’t the result of running. It still sucks, though.