The Blog Of Eric Herdman

The clock said 6:47 I had just ran 44 hilly, windy miles and had to crank out another 6.24777 miles and it was all going to go away… NOT forgotten just going to go away.  Go away like a bad memory goes away with time.  Well… Its had time to go away (2 years of fixing myself) and this next 6 miles was the time to fucking bury this shit and more on!  So, 3 miles out and 3 back and the past two years of fractures, bad luck, stupidity and a body that just didn’t want to cooperate was done!  I promised myself that WHEN not IF this day arrived I would mentally (physically was already under control or I could not have gotten to the start line) let the bad mental shit go.  As I approached the finish line I could see my wife.

This is a good woman... My wife!

My wife who for the past 2 years, 1 day, 4hours and 33 minutes has put up with a husband who was broken, beaten up and down more then he was up.  She was used to putting up with me running 5,6 and 7 hour long runs and putting in 155 mile training weeks running – that… she was ALMOST okay with.  However, the crutches, MRI, bone scans, lab work, Doctors visits, my cane, my special (bad back) recliner, my bone stimulator, my rehab area that became a full blown gym in out living room, pain pills, the constipation from the pain pills and my constant bitching are another thing!  She is a G O O D woman.  I’ll say it again she is a good woman!  No amount of good shit I’ll do for her and to her will ever make up for the shit that girl went through with me for those two years.

As I got closer to the line she took a picture of me and all I could think about is see took a picture of me two years ago walking with a walker, bent over like I was 80 and looking like the pain was tearing the ass out of me – and it was… I had my first set of fractures then… three Sacral fractures.

The back that was once so broken I could not walk right.  Photo by Jayne Furman

I ran the last 6 miles with my shirt off… no problem!  I needed the vitamin D.  I found out I was deficient for vitamin D about a year into this whole mess.  Vitamin D deficiency causes bone density loss.  So more sun for me.  Not crazy nudist camp sun but I try and get a good dose of Vit D whenever I get the chance.  I crossed the line and took one second to take in what I had done.  What I had done was… Not win a 50 mile race.  Not run it in a decent time.  Not having beaten my competition.  But for one second I realized that I got myself back to right.  Back to the good of things.  Back to a “normal” spot – for me anyway.  As she came over to me to give me a hug I remembered the times she hugged me and it hurt because of my 2 pelvic stress fractures.  But not this hug this was damn good!  That was an awesome hug!  I’m so happy for her hug and It certainly did not hurt.  At this point I looked back down the road onto the race course and there was no one in sight.

I wore this thing for 6.75 weeks.

Just like the morning I broke my second metatarsal on the bridge in Washington DC.  No one was around.  I thought no one to help and I am not able to walk.  What the hell am I going to do now?  I hopped along until I got to the main road and then got a taxi to the hotel.  Not today, I thought, today I can walk normal, feel good and move like I was okay and I was.

At The Finish Line-Done!

Two years later, countless bike miles, hundreds of rehab hours, and pain… gone!  Replaced with a new body, a new athlete, new mindset and lots of smart and careful running.  I now refer to all of the “extra” work I do as PREHAB.  Work I do to prevent screwing myself up again.  More on that later, that is a separate blog post.

As we get ready to leave the race site.  I take one more look around to absorb what I have done and think… Next!!!