Moping, back injuries, sports and attitude

So, I have been laying around my house brooding for the last week and a half. Somehow, I managed to herniate 3 of the discs in my lower back, one of them enough that I will likely have to have surgery.  If my pain isn't better by monday, time to go under the knife.  Because I am into running, yoga and have been working out 6-10 hours a week for at least a year, the last two weeks have been slightly hellish.  I have been told that my job is to lay on the couch with a pillow between my legs for support.  And because I am on vicodin and in pain, I can't concentrate well enough to do things like read books, make intelligent conversation (though I have made plenty of unintelligent conversation) and clean the house.

So basically, I have spent the last two weeks moping, brooding and fishing for sympathy. You would think that this would have gotten worse when the surgeon told me that I could not run anymore, ever.  I gave him these puppy dog eyes and pouted a little, thinking that this might change his mind, but he wasn't up for it. Instead he told me that after my six weeks of complete absence from exercise, I could take up swimming.  He mentioned swimming like five times in between discussions of the recumbent bike, stair master and possibly after a while the elliptical.

At first, I was not pleased, I pouted on my own for a bit and then his discussion made something click. I realized two things in about five minute period while illicitly driving home from my appointment. 1) The reason I like running is because I love movement, I love seeing how far my body can go and what it can do and 2) I needed to quit my damned whining.

So, I have turned a corner both sports and attitude wise. I have now found a sport, swimming, that will allow be to continue moving and possibly give me the chance to push my body to do new and exciting things. They have open water swimming events in the sound, I can join a master's swimming team if I get good enough. I have found private lessons at my gym for when I am ready to start training.  And swimmers can get their bodies into hella good shape with relatively low impact.

All my attitude needed, it turns out, was something to look forward to. I was brooding because I could only see a future of eating fries, gaining back the pounds I worked to hard to take off, and eventually losing a lot of my mobility to weight gain and back problems.

 Now, I am excited about the weeks of painstakingly watching every movement I make and tracking every morsel I put in my mouth until I am well enough to learn how to swim.  As I get better I can read books about perfecting my freestyle stroke and maybe I can start figuring out what gadgets I can take with me in the pool.

Speedos, googles and swim caps...here we come .... and I am sure I will have plenty of missteps and adventures to blog about in my new sport.