CCM Diary: Witch Doctor


Nine days until the Cape Cod Marathon, and you know what that means!

That’s right!  The first extended forecast for race day!  The 12 MPH wind is a little more than I’d like, but it looks like a good day, if the forecast holds up.  Of course, it is New England.  10-Day forecasts are worth less than an empty GU packet.  A week from Sunday, we could end up with a Nor’easter.

This morning I weighed in one last time before hiding the scale until after the marathon.  Since I’m running much less than usual and I’m not cutting back on food to compensate, my weight is inevitably going to creep up.  I don’t need to watch that happen.  Ignorance is sometimes bliss.

Afterward, I went through my floor exercises.  I skipped the kettlebell routine because that puts more stress on my stiff neck.

Then I went to visit the chiropractor.  First, they had me lie face down so they could wire me up for some electronic muscle stimulation.  I spent 10 minutes twitching like a dead frog wired to a 9-volt battery.  Then it was time to “adjust” my neck.  For those of you who’ve never been to the chiropractor, a neck adjustment is fairly frightening.  In order to do it right, they have to catch you off guard or else you’re likely to be too tense.  And it really does feel like they’re trying to snap your head right off.

The chiropractor always insists that you need to keep coming back for regular treatments, but my experience has been that if an adjustment is going to help, whatever good it does happens at the first session.  In this case, it does seem like the treatments may have helped, though there was no miracle cure.  I’ll wait to see what tomorrow brings before making any decisions.

Ruth and I went to see the premier of “Racing the Rez” tonight.  It’s a documentary about Navajo and Hopi cross-country runners from two rival high schools in Arizona.  Brian Truglio turned over 300 hours of film into an hour long look at how the kids faced the challenges of running and of growing up on the reservation.  We were engrossed by the story and enjoyed the Q&A afterward with the Truglio, his editor, one of the coaches, and Chris McDougall, who used some of his Born to Run money to help fund the movie.

American Public Broadcasting has picked up “Racing the Rez”.  It’ll be available to your local PBS station starting in November.  Keep an eye out for when it’s showing in your area.

(strength; 148#)


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