The Adventurous Tale of an MRI: My Stress Reaction and a Training Update

So last spring, about three weeks before the state track meet, I wound up with a stress fracture in my left foot... That was a pretty rough day! But whatever, I still had fun at state running the 1600 with a fractured foot and did pretty decent considering the circumstances! Anyway, after recovering from that I embarked upon my freshman season of cross country in college hoping my foot was all healed up! The season went well and I made it all the way through the conference championships, where we competed in Chicago, before my foot caused me any more trouble. Unfortunately, right about then it started to bother me just a little bit. And that's when the more adventurous part of this story begins! Sadly it's not really that adventurous, but for me it was something new at least. Anyway, after talking to the trainer and team doctor they decided I should get an MRI. Now, I had heard about MRI's before but I never got to get one, so here was my chance! I was scheduled to get the MRI the very next morning at the hospital in Provo, or so I thought... The next morning came, and luckily that morning I actually got up on time (those of you that know me know that getting up in the morning is seriously the hardest part of the day for me) (seriously, it's like a giant battle and ethical delima mixed with a great state confusion and debate of how fast I can actually get ready) and made it to the hospital just in time. But, when I got to the check in desk no one was there... This was about 7:00 in the morning though so I guess the secretaries don't come in that early. So after spending about ten minutes trying to figure out the "call this extension to check in" sign and how my phone was going to be able to call some random three digit extension, I finally realized I needed to dial the extension on the hospital phone sitting on the desk. Note: it was early in the morning...take that for what it's worth haha Anyway, they sent someone right out to check me in and get me ready for the MRI. However, when they tried to check me in for the MRI they couldn't find my appointment in the system. So the nice lady made some phone calls and found out that my MRI was actually scheduled for the hospital in Orem... so here I am and by now it is about 20 minutes after my appointment time, and I'm still a solid 15 minute drive away from where I'm supposed to be... Awesome!! Luckily, both of the hospitals are part of the same company, (In my defense, since both hospitals are part of IHC it would be super easy to get them mixed up, right?) #solidexcuse So they were able to just transfer whatever file or info they needed from Orem to Provo and they were able to just do the MRI where I already was. So I filled out all the paperwork and finally gotten taken back for the MRI. Now here's the sweet thing about MRI's, I always heard they were kind of long and the machine made super loud noises, but given my amazing talent of being able to sleep ANYWHERE I was totally planning on getting a solid nap in! Especially since the morning had already taken so much out of with with all the confusion and what not. As always, my plan went exactly how I intended and I got a great nap! Now, I always heard MRI's made loud banging noises, mine did not. Mine sounded like laser guns from a video game or something.  I thought that was pretty sweet! Anyway, once I got the MRI I just had to wait to go over the results with the doctor. A couple days latter I met with the doctor and found out I had a stress reaction in my foot. Now, the doctor knew I had a stress reaction in my foot, but the MRI wasn't taken very well and was blury (I wonder if it would have been better if it was taken at the hospital I was actually supposed to go to...)  so the doctor decided to go ahead and get an x-ray too to get a better look at things. The x-ray ended looking pretty good so the doctor put me in a boot and I only had to stay of it for three weeks, then I would get another x-ray and as long as it looked better I would be cleared to start running again.  So I got a lot of swimming in during the time in the boot to stay in shape and learned that I actually really like swimming and would like to try and get into triathalons or even maybe try an Ironman someday. And that pretty much brings us to today. I got the boot of a little while ago and have been slowly working back into running. I'm at 20 minute runs a day and the foot is feeling good. I'm also still swimming a lot to keep my cardio up and stay in shape. I missed the first Indoor meet in Bosie when I was in the boot but I only missed one meet and I'm hopeing to be running well enough to still have a good Indoor season.

TLDR: I recently got a stress reaction in my foot that made me miss the first indoor meet of the season. Fortunately, I caught it pretty early and wasn't out for too long. I'm still recovering and only running for 20 minutes a day right now but that's increasing quickly! I'm still swimming alot to make sure I am at least somewhat in shape and plan on having a great indoor season.

The First, And Somewhat Less Epic, Tale...

Well, I figure I spend (waste) far to much time online doing "super exciting" things like checking Facebook and Flotrack, so, knowing that I'm not going to be able to just stop wasting time online (I have serious time management issues) I decided to try and channel the time I spend online in some way that might be more productive. Hopefully someone will enjoy reading my blog and will be able to benefit in some way, whether it be from laughing at my ridiculous posts, or the unlikely chance of something I say being humorous, or maybe even learning something from my experiences, success, and failures. I have also been thinking lately that I really do enjoy writing, despite the extremely unenjoyable experience I had in English 2020 at Utah Valley University last semester, I actually do like to write. So, since I consider myself an "academic man of considerable learning" I am obviously quite cable of seeing the educational value of "blogging". Basically, I am just hoping to improve my writing skills through this blog. And lastly, and somewhat "embarrassedly", I must admit, I am a copycat sometimes, lots of my friends have recently started blogs which largely, and probably more correctly, almost completely, influenced my decision to start this blog. So here goes! I hope to keep this blog at least somewhat up-to-date and mostly legible, as I don't always have the best grammar and somehow can't seem to make spell check work.

TLDR: I'm starting this blog in hopes of improving my writing skills, creating something more worthwhile than my Facebook page, and because I've been "inspired" by my many friend who have recently started blogs themselves.