Prepping for Comrades

In just a couple days I’ll be running 56 miles. From Pietermaritzburg to Durban, South Africa. It’s called the Comrades Marathon. The world’s oldest, most respected and most prestigious ultra-marathon.

Until a few months ago, I would not have imagined that I’d be lining up with 21,000 others doing what most other Earthlings have trouble comprehending. But somehow fate stepped in and set me upon yet another wonderful path of opportunity and self-discovery. (There’s something about running marathons eight out of ten weekends, mostly by yourself, that confirms you’ve been blessed with physical health and opportunities some others aren’t so fortunate to enjoy.)

Last December I was lining up a late entry to Ironman Canada when my wife, the lovely Dr. Sharon Wetherall, busted out the good news: she’s pregnant with our third child and it’s due on August 20…which happens to be a week before the big race in Penticton, BC. And like that, Ironman was out. Then the phone call came from the Challenged Athletes Foundation; “I just got a call from Andy Baldwin, he’s looking for a leg amputee to run this big huge race in Africa, are you in?” My gut reaction—and immediate answer—was “No.” Eighteen hours later, after a little time to digest and discuss with Sharon, I was in. Thirty-six hours later I got in a 12 mile run. A few days later I toughed out a 17-miler. Next thing you know I’m running a 34-miler in Moab…through a foot of snow!…for like a mile…but still.

Now I’m on a continent I’ve never stepped foot on before preparing for something I might never repeat. Heck, I might not even finish—there’s no guarantees. I’m hoping, in no particular order, that might back, my right knee (the “good” side”) and my stump can tough it out.

The one thing I have in my favor, other than lots of Ironman experience, is the knowledge that I’ve made a personal pledge—as did Andy, Josh Cox and 14 other runners—to generate 100 sponsorships for needy African children running as a member of Team World Vision. And to those sponsors (most of which I have yet to generate) I’ve pledged that I’ll finish the race to help provide a better life experience to those not as fortunate as me. So when the pain sets it, I’ll fall back on the knowledge that this suffering is brief and voluntary and that reaching the finish line—in less that 12 hours—is why I signed up and is truly the only option.

To support our teams efforts and sponsor a child so that he or she may receive immunizations, clean water, education and more, please visit www.theultimatecause.org.

Slow is Good

I’ve been slow lately, in a good way. In the two weeks following our return from our big trip to Australia, I flew to five cities in four states for four speaking gigs and one race. Since then I’ve flown to zero cities to do zero things.

My time has primarily been spent caring for Jack and Luke, three and a half and two years old, respectively and Sharon has begun her career as an anesthesiologist at Lutheran Hospital in Wheatridge, CO, 18 miles south. We’ve hired a fabulous Peruvian nanny, Fabiola, who helps us out three or four days a week for a few hours a day.

I’d like to say that I’m so popular on the speaking circuit that the phone rings all by itself, however, not only am I not there yet but even the best of ‘em aren’t where they were just a year ago as professionals of my ilk are among the first to get scratched off the new budget in a pared back economy.

Alas, this gives me some time to retool and refocus not only on the speaking business but also on some other aspects of life. For instance, Jack and Luke have just carved their first ski tracks down the slopes of Vail; I’ve been playing hockey on Friday afternoons at the local YMCA (which also provides two hours of free child watch!); and the elder progeny recently stood/sat on the ice, mostly observing and crying, at his first hockey practice. We’ll try not to overload…

Sharon and I spent most weekends in October/November home shopping and we’re thrilled to have found one in Lafayette, just east of Boulder. It’s an enormous and gorgeous home, which we’re blessed to have come across and eager to get in to. We close on it next week, but will not be moving in until March 1. Our rental lease expires then and the current owners are waiting on their new home to be built, so they’ll be renting back from us.

My time and energy has also returned to training. With no home to remodel (as much as I liked it, I didn’t like the time sucking quality) or flights to board, the frequent rider miles have begun to grow along with some good quality runs. I swam for the fist time in three months a few days ago.

Which brings me to my latest health care provider, Jeff the Physical Therapist. Starting sometime earlier this millennium, my left shoulder began to ache on occasion, typically in the morning, but rarely to the point that I would even pay it an ounce of attention. About 18 months ago, it began aching when I would reach forward/overhead and be particularly bothersome both in the morning and at bedtime. Not that I did much of it, but I was still able to swim (and bike and run, which I always do more of) so I didn’t think too much of the pain—it would pass…

Just as last race season was getting underway, the discomfort I felt each morning concerned me that I wouldn’t be able to race in the coming months. Yet by the time I occasionally got to the pool at mid-morning, the pain would be relatively gone. This lasted all through the summer and right up to world champs in September. As much as I’d like to, I can’t blame my disastrous race and swim on this injury.

However, over the following few weeks of Ozzie vacation, the nights were getting worse and worse and progressing to the point where I’d wake up in the middle of the night unable to feel my left arm, the sensation subsiding in the aching shoulder. And when the arm didn’t go numb, then my left wrist would be very tender. One or the other.

Eight or nine weeks of this, and lots of ibuprofen, was about enough and about the same time we settled back into Boulder, Sharon started her new job, the health insurance got straightened and I was able to visit my new primary doctor and an orthopedic specialist at The Boulder Medical Center. The docs concurred that an impingement is to blame: the soft tissue between the rotator cuff and the underside of the bone that is the top part of the shoulder (acromion) gets pinched. This causes the pain. The numbing of my left arm is most likely caused by a pinched nerve in my shoulder, but in a different area than the aforementioned impingement. Whatever’s causing the numbness they feel is also referring the “pain” that I feel in my wrist, my brain not knowing the difference. Looks like I have an MRI to figure that part out in my very-near future.

So that brings me to Jeff of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine who is doing a great job rehabbing me and this has allowed me to get back in the pool. Surgery may eventually come into play to gently reshape my acromion. If it does it won’t be for awhile since I’m focusing my efforts on the next year’s focal race: Ironman Canada, August 2010.

So, that being written, I gotta get the boys ready to head to the gym (the other local Y with free child watch) and work on my swim form. Slowly.