Negotiations.

On Wednesday night, the Annapolis Striders hosted a party to celebrate everyone who completed a marathon (or longer) this year. It was a really nice event, but I haven't uploaded the photos yet, so here is another photo from the day of the marathon. This was taken in the parking lot of the New Carrollton Metro station. I returned there the next day to go to dinner with some DC friends and parked in almost the exact same spot. As soon as I did that, my whole body tensed up. It was a total fight-or-flight/PTSD reaction. I had to tell myself "Its okay; we're not doing that again today." By that point, some kind of endorphin-induced euphoria had made my brain forget the most difficult moments of the marathon, but my body definitely remembered!

Yesterday (Thursday), I went to the dermatologist to have a weird mole removed from my shoulder. The post-removal recovery instructions they gave me say that I should avoid "vigorous activity" for 6 weeks! Seriously? Its a mole! I had an organ removed and was back in the gym the next week!

There was a time in my life, not that long ago, when I would have responded to a prescription of taking it easy for 6 weeks with a simple "done." But things have changed. The words were barely out of my doctor's mouth when I began negotiating: "What do you mean by 'vigorous'?" "How much weight is too much to lift?" "The mole was on my shoulder, so I can still run, right?" And, of course, the most important question: "What is the worst that could happen if I push it?" 

Fortunately, my doctor is a runner and triathlete herself, so she understands. Very patiently, she told me that it is her ethical responsibility to tell me to take it easy for 6 weeks, but she also gave me a rough breakdown of the actual risks if I ignore her advice. In the beginning, they are pretty bad: popped stiches, infection, a re-opened wound. I don't want any of that. After awhile, though, the taking it easy just becomes a way to reduce scarring. At that point, in the words of my doctor, "its a matter of tradeoff." Personally, I couldn't care less about having a scar from a 6mm incision. The scar will almost certainly be more attractive than the ugly mole it will replace.

So, it sounds like I'm out of Group Power and boot camp for at least a week, until the stiches come out. After that, I probably need to drop back my weights for at least another week or two. This is inconvenient since this session of GP (which I love) is all about increased weight, but I'll survive. Also, I'm allowed to run, bike, and do lower-body stuff to my heart's content as long as I keep the incision site clean and dry. All in all, not terrible news.

Here's hoping that my next blog entry will not be titled "How I popped a stich and got chewed out by my dermatologist."