Sluggish today

Actually it doesn't surprise me too much that I felt so sluggish today. This was my third run in a row. When I am getting back into running I like to run several days back to back in order to establish the habit of running. I have done this several times when restarting running and it has worked really well. The runs don't need to be long hard runs, it is just the consistency of doing X days in a row that helps to establish the habit. This was the third run in a row and fifth out of the last six days. I think I have normalized my habit enough for now! Tomorrow I will take a break.

I went back to the new shoes today with my orthopedic inserts. They are heavy and that added to my tired legs (either that or my tired legs added to the heaviness!) The run went well, but I was dragging towards the end and even considered cutting it short. I ended up doing my full base run on 5.75. It was funny the run felt really slow, but ended up not being slow at all when I checked my time. Weird.

Inserts

I forgot to mention that I wore my old motion-control Asics Gel Kayanos the last time I ran. I pulled out the stiff "extra" motion-control inserts I had in there and used the standard one I got with my new Mizunos. As far as my feet went, the run went pretty well. I once again felt the need for extra cushion on the ball of my feet.

So today I wore them again, but this time I found an old cushiony set of inserts to use instead. My thinking was I might be able to deal with the issue with the balls of my feet. The cushion felt pretty good on the run. Toward the end I noticed that I was flapping with my left foot. My right footstrike felt fine, but the left came down as a slap. This immediately caught my attention as this was one of the first things I noticed when running with the ms-related problems I was having with my legs. This happened twice before and at times would get so bad that my one foot (I think it was the left) would almost drag causing me to fall a couple of times. Basically what was happening then was I couldn't get the front of my foot to pull up far enough, which would cause my toe to drag on the surface. It was almost as if my whole lower leg went numb and I couldn't make it work as fully as I normally would be able to (and need to to run). I remember thinking at the time that I was worried I was reprogramming my stride to do the incorrect form and that I would never get it back. When the attack ended after a couple of months, my normal stride came back.

So, I was alarmed. I continued on, step, slap, step, slap. I tried to pull my foot up higher as I struck the ground. I could, with none of the previous problems. I also noticed if I ran on the side of my foot that the slapping would subside a bit. But that wasn't right either. Then it dawned on me, maybe it was the insert. The heel of this particular cushion insert was really thick which I thought maybe was enough to cause the front of my foot to slap as it tried to land correctly, but hit the heal to quickly.

So I finished my run, went in and replaced the cushion inserts with the standard Mizuno ones and went out for a few more blocks to see how it went. Turned out I no longer was slapping. Even when I tried to relax and let my footstrike happen without any mental intervention, everything was fine. I think this was a bit more pronounced for me as my right leg is shorter than my left and I wear a lift in the right side to compensate. This has caused me a variety of issues over the years. This was certainly one of them.

Still recovering

Yesterday I went out for a second run in a row. I had the entire day to do it so I didn't force myself to get up early and run in the cold. This, as it turns out, was not the best idea. So I decided to run after I went to the tax guy. To hold me over I scarfed a Clif bar and ventured out to receive the news (which wasn't too bad). I took the bus, which to go to my accountant takes a couple of buses. On the way back I decided to take a little walk in order to only have to take one bus. After checking the schedule on my phone I realized I had to wait 25 mins which was ok as there is a coffee shop by the stop called Palio that has the best Mexican mochas I have ever had. Unfortunately they also have really good pastries and I found myself ordering a chocolate muffin with granulated sugar on top and a day old bialli covered with tomato sauce and cheese. They were all delicious and the mocha was still the best in Portland. It was only after I finished my bounty that I realized, Oh crap I have a full belly and I was going to go running. To top it off, my allergies go crazy this time of year (I blame the blooming plum trees) AND I am allergic to mil which I had in my mocha rather than soy (I have no idea why I did that).

I was not preparing well for a run.

I got home and piddled around for a few but eventually decided I really wanted to run despite my full belly. I geared up up and headed out. At first I was conscious of my fullness, but it soon went away and I found myself cruising along pretty well. As I got to the halfway point of my base runs I marveled at how nice it was outside. So in direct defiance of my promise to myself to take it easy I took the turn off for the longer run. The run was going really well, my lungs were doing fine and I felt great. I kept looking for the point when my body said "you are approaching the point of running too much, STOP!" But it didn't happen. Perhaps a belly full of pastries and coffee is good running energy (I doubt it.) I then came upon Reed College and a headed up onto campus only to find myself doing an about face and heading off on my longer Reed path which ends up winding through the canyon. Once in the privacy of the wooded canyon, I even needed to remove one of my layers (which was of course the bottom layer) and tied my shirt around my waist. I continued through the canyon where I was later greeted by a chorus of geese and a lone crane. Everybody was enjoying the day.

Toward the end of the run I did feel a bit of pain in my hip again, more of a tightness. It occurred to me that I was getting a bit lazy in my form and that was the cause. So I refocused on lining up my body correctly and dropping my feet in alignment with my frame and the pain disappeared. The body focus I have established from practicing Chi Running techniques has really paid off and gotten me through a number of running problems, can't say that enough.

During my cool down it seems like I finally getting past my back pull as I was able to stretch with ease. That night as I lay down watching a movie I went through my horizontal stretching routine and did my rubber band exercises as well. This morning I find myself a little sore and stiff, but everything seems ok. My back hurts a little, but I have a feeling that one I am up and moving around a bit I will feel fine. Hopefully you will be reading another post from me today about today's run. We'll see.

Finally wearing out my new shoes again

This all started last night when I decided to set my alarm for morning run o'clock. The alarm went off and I jumped back into my old routine. Turn on the coffee pot (prepared last night), get dressed, make an emergen-C, pour a cuppa, open a Clif bar, lightly read the web, pull on the shoes and head down the driveway.

It felt really good to break past the road block I had created for myself. It amazes me how simple getting back into running becomes once you take that first step. It's a tough first step, but once you are past it you are running again. Huzzah!

When I entered the run into my diary I saw that it had been three weeks since I had last ran. My lungs felt it too. I was huffin' and puffin' for some of the run, but overall it wasn't too bad. I know that in a few days time I will be back to approaching form. Not going to be there anytime soon, but I will quickly be back to making base runs like they are base runs instead of the tough run I had this morning.

When I tried to come back from my last break I really pushed it. So hard that I managed to create a nagging hip/thigh issue. No more of that this time. I am going to approach a comeback with a gradual attitude. I am not going to push the miles and definitely not going to push the tempo yet. I am sure it won't be too long before I am hitting a long run, but I am going to try to hold off for a bit. The good thing about this break is that I have managed to heal the hip/thigh nag that I previously created.

I am really looking forward to burning some calories and especially to not gaining any weight. I have put on at least 5 pounds these last several weeks. Loose pants here I come again!

Can I even call myself a runner anymore?

Ugh, this morning I found myself making more excuses to not go for a run. I think the hardest part of falling out of the habit is the daunting feeling of not just running today, but doing it every day. It is more a matter of becoming a runner again than just running today. I think that is the crux of the difficulty in getting started again. The good news is that once I do get going again, I will WANT to run again. It is just a matter of forcing myself to get over this case of the lazies and doing it.

Fighting the excuses is the hardest part. Well no, actually the knowledge that I don't have to get up early to run is the sweet intoxication that keeps me from wanting to plan a run. I guess it is a combination of the two. My biggest excuse at the moment is my back which is still giving me grief. The thing is I know if I go running it will help to loosen up my back and get me on the road to mend. Right now I am just so damn stiff. I don't believe it has anything to do with ms, probably more likely age than anything. That and the damn daylight savings time.

It is interesting to me how this collapse in my running has occurred. I had the really busy week where I didn't manage to get out to run. I kept thinking I had too much to do to spend the time running. Its more than just an hour out of the day to run. Its getting ready to run, cooling down, showering after the run. Takes too much time. So that is how this all started. I believe this week of no running had a totally adverse effect on my system. The I had the stomach flu which added to the misery and that combined with all the time I spent in bed made my back ripe for getting strained. I think all three have not only combined to make me feel physically unready to run, but mentally as well.

So here I sit (literally) trying to figure out how I am going to get past this and get back out on the roads. I honestly don't think ti is going to take much, once I get past the first time that is. Unless I manage to roll an ankle (which would sadly be fitting) I will be just fine getting back into it. Maybe I need to buy myself a new shirt or something. Nah, I have plenty of running gear. Plus I have my new shoes, even if I don't really like them that much.

One tactic I have always found to work well is to pick up a running book and start reading. This always seems to get me into the mindset of wanting to run. I have a good one too sitting on my shelf. The problem is I am in the middle of several books already (another excuse...)

Writing this today is making me want to get out there. I think I am ready to begin again. It is going to take a couple of weeks to get back to where I was before, but that is ok. Then I can work on taking some further steps like increasing my speed which has needed some help as of late. Ok, I feel much better. Time to run again. Time to call myself a runner again.

Lame...

Ugh, I haven't run in over a week now. Mostly due to mt work load, but I also lay blame on Daylight Savings Time (which I hate!) My excuse this morning tops either of those. I just ate the first food I have eaten since Sat. night when I ate a bad veggie burger from Trader Joes. I'll spare you all the details. I feel much better, and it was great to actually eat something.

Plenty of time for work, not so for running

This has been a really busy week with work for me. Not that I am complaining, but I sure would have liked to do some running. I have to admit there were a couple of mornings when sleeping ingot the best of me. I blame that on daylight savings time. I grew up in Az and we had no DST. Neither does Japan. I sure wish we didn't here, it kills me every year even though I have lived in Portland for 20 years now. So I am going to try to get back on track tomorrow.

I got an interesting phone call today from a woman who read about my troubles with getting assistance for rebif. She is in much the same boat as me: self-employed, lives in Portland, same recommended treatment, same neurologist! She was just diagnosed and read my post on my search for help. Sorry to scare you! But I do think we will find relief with the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool. Here are the eligibility requirements which don't cleanly match us, but the person I talked with said there wouldn't be any issues. Good luck to us both! And don't worry about that first shot, it will get a lot easier, believe me.

Neurologist visit and a long run

Today I had my one year Neurology appt. with Dr. Ellison. I like her a lot and feel like she is giving me good care, but I always feel hustled out. I always feel like I can talk to my doctors for longer and I know she has other patients. I did get a clean bill of health and she doesn't want to see me again unless I see any new symptom for more than a couple of weeks. I think the ms is going as well as it can.

So I went in with the following questions:

• What is going on with the lower abdomen soreness - she thinks it may be rebif related, but wante me to see my GP. I'm guessing rebif.


• Foot numbness and ms hug on my feet - Dr. E said that's a very common sideeffect and can happen in many places on the body like arms, chest torso


• I mentioned Pot relieving numbness - She said that goes to show you the power of medical marijuana, but didn't offer to write me a "green card".


• I asked about substitutes for Dialantin and she mentioned several but I only remember one - depicote - which for some reason I thought was an anti-depression drug


• rebif payment options - She mentioned several of the ones I found and offered to have one of the staff look into programs.


• Suppliments, DHEA, Creatine, ginko she glossed over all but approved of my vitamin regimen: multi-vit, vit c, vit d and calcium.

We didn't get to talk about upcoming treatments which I wanted to do. But I have read about many of them. I think the next big drug will be the oral pill that is being tested.

It was a really nice sunny day today which made running even more of a priority. I went on the longer canyon run I have been doing for years and then mapped it Check it out. Being that this was the third in a row, I felt pretty pooped so I ran the 7+ miles slowly at a 9:38 mile pace.I was tired, but it was just too nice out to not run.

Run arround with ms

Today I did two runs with ms. The first one was much more enjoyable despite teh chilly morning and having drank something called Bad Road at a local restaurant. Piece of advice when drinking a Bad Road, when they ask if you want 10 mile or 5 miles, don't respond with "10". So the run went pretty well, a base run of 5.75 miles. It was sunny out as it usually is when it is that cold in Portland and that kept me going strong.

One thing that I found interesting from a radio station I was listening to: Portland was named the #1 most unhappy city in the US by Business Week. I think it is really funny as I know Portlanders are going to get all "unhappy" about it. To me it is good news as it means fewer people will be coming here and clogging up our roads. Won't do much for my clients that rely on tourism though. In truth Portland is a pretty optimistic place if not overly so. They don't call us the city of rose(colored glasses)s for nothing.

So my second run(around) with ms happened later this afternoon. I am ending my one year of free rebif from Serano and MS Lifelines. Thanks for the free drugs, I'm sure they have been a help to my situation. The down side to having hope with ms, is that to continue having hope I will have to shell out over $2000 a month for the rest of my life. Turns out the medical assistance program they offer after the first year has very low income requirements which I don't fall under. I make too much to get assistance, but not enough to be able to afford it.

So I know all of you are asking, come on Marco, you have ms, don't you have insurance? Well yes I do. Turned out the plan that I originally purchased and read to cover prescriptions doesn't cover "specialty" medications such as rebif. No soup for you! Healthnet actually will cover up to $4K of "specialty" meds which almost takes me through February every year. Nice job Healthnet, you got me covered! The day I found out about this I just about pooped myself. After several phone calls I found out about the MS Lifelines Access Made Simple program which provides ms patients with free (or nearly free) rebif for a year and then offers assistance after the first year. I was so relieved. Well, it turned out I just put off the pooping a year. As I said earlier, I don't qualify for further help.

So what to do now? And let the run around begin! I have always gotten really good help from MS Lifelines. Their call center was always helpful and easy to understand. Well, that is until you get transferred out to fulfillment or in today's case Assistance Program. Seems like a change of company or at the very least pay scale as the service level drops off significantly. Part of me has to wonder if Serano wouldn't do more for me if I just got to speak to someone else.

My first thought is to get on Ruthann's insurance, which would "only" run me $800+ a month Good insurance though, eye, ear throat, the whole deal. Well at least that would be my final option. But still not a concretely solution.

So cut adrift I look into the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, a program to lower the cost of prescription drugs. When I first found out about the cost of rebif it was $1800 a month. With OPDP teh cost was lowered to $2300 a month. Oh wait, that is more? Has their been a huge increase in the cost of rebif in a year? Not out of the realm of possibility. I ask if there are other programs that I could try and after some searching she replied, Oh yes there is "the MSLifelines program that will..." Grrrrr. So I call Partner for Prescription Assistance, they also tell me of the low. low price of $2300 a month AND if I order by mail I can get it for only $2000 a month. In addition there is this program called "MSLifelines that will..." Next I try RX Assist and Needy Meds which both tell me of a program called "MSLifelines that will...". Needy Meds does tell me of several drug card programs that are available: Drug Card America, Patient Card (or something like that), Free Drug Card, PS Card and True RX Services. All of which had websites that looked as if I was going to be ordering a set of knives or Obama coin sets. Id did appear that I could get some sort of discount through them. So now I am down to about $1500 a month.

Not to be discouraged I call on my last hope the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool. This group covers individuals as if they were a group. But, because I have MS, my costs would be pretty high. The woman (Mary) I talked with was very honest about this. In fact if I got the $500 deductible plan, my meds might cost me as much as $40 a month and the plan itself could be as much as $436 a month. She paused for the shock of the high cost to ease from my shoulders. I think I totally surprised her when I said, "Wow that's great!" Great? she replied. When I told her the cost of my meds I think it made her feel really good to have been such a help. My next question was a doozy though, did OMIP consider rebif a specialty drug and were there any constraints associated with it. After being on hold four separate times she came back to say she wasn't positive, but it appeared there weren't. I was just relieved I could afford that, best news I had gotten all day. She promised to send me info on the plan. I think I have a winner.

Sleeping in - good for self, bad for running

I have missed my opportunity to run three days in a row. But the good thing is I am well rested! Overall I would have to say the disappointment outweighs the benefit.

I just picked up a book on nutrition for the vegetarian runner. I am sure I am doing so many things wrong. Maybe now I will be able to get up and run in the morning!