Pain In My Side

About two weeks ago I got a fairly bad pain on my right-had side. That was a real problem because I only sleep properly on my right side, and that proved to be impossible. I did google for possible causes and of course Dr. Google came up with the usual terminal cancer diagnosis, as well as a few others like pneumonia and muscle strain. While I was reasonably confident that it wasn't terminal cancer I didn't entirely rule out pneumonia because it somewhat reminded me of the pain when I had exactly that 12 years ago, but a muscle issue was always by far the most likely cause.

I don't know what caused it, maybe it was from that bike crash in Kerry because that's the side I landed on, but since it had been such a minor incident and it didn't hurt at all for several days afterwards I think it may have been unrelated.

The most painful thing by far was sneezing; it hurt like hell, as if someone had stabbed me in my side. Coughing was uncomfortable as well, which was another problem because I, and just about everyone else who had been on that bike ride, was suffering from a cold a few days after the trip, but thankfully it was only a short illness and after a couple of days I was better again.

The pain in my side has mostly gone away now, but it has taken about 3 weeks, so there was plenty of discomfort to be had. Thankfully it didn't hurt at all when running or I would have been in real trouble with my upcoming race.

Ah yes, the race. I got a scare last Friday when 3 guys asked me if I was racing this weekend, including one guy who was signed up to the same race, but after checking the website I calmed down again, I had been right, the race is this weekend.

Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't great, I will make sure my rain gear is in good order. That's a shame, we will be up in the mountains but not get to enjoy any of the marvellous views.  I have yet to enjoy the views from the top of Djouce and it looks like I will have to wait a little bit longer.

I expect the race will take me between 10 and 11 hours. I sure as hell don't expect to trouble any of the faster guys but I won't make up the back of the pack either, and I have 12:30 to finish, so I don't think the cut-offs will be an issue. I'll just try and enjoy it as much as I can, without putting any kind of pressure on myself.