The (Bumpy) Road to Recovery — Running Beat the Blerch, Being a Cyborg and Narwhal Blessings

I’m running in a race again for the first time in a while. In fact, I barely ran this summer as the result of ongoing health “complications”. The last time I ran was a magical day during high tide while in PEI this summer. Rosie and I slogged our way down a surreal red sand beach weaving around and through pools of water.

The road to recovery is longer and bumpier than I would like but such is life right?

I couldn’t have picked a better race to get back out there. I’m running in Beat the Blerch. Its organized by Mathew Inman. I have been a big fan of his online cartoon The Oatmeal for years. The piece he did about Tesla, both the car and the inventor are both delicous. Also, his book on why he likes to run crazy long distances is fantastic. Let’s just say this race I’m running on Saturday morning in Washington State has couches and cake at rest stations along the route. I can’t wait. Apparently lots costumes and suprises too. I’m looking for fun ideas to bring to the Great Climate Race this year.

So why did I stop running for a while? I had a complication from my inner ear issues recently. I developed an infection in a root canal and needed dental surgery… twice over the summer. Same area I needed surgery on shortly after the last Great Climate Race last November. Good times. Long story short I was on Oxycontin for over a month and strong antibiotics and have two fewer teeth than I did before. The end result was I really didn’t feel up to running for a while.

The weird side effect was that the swelling increased my hyperacusis and tinnitus. So not only can I not hear out of my right ear now but I had a super high pitched “white noise” keeping me company at all times (still do) and at the same time all noises seemed like about 10 times louder than normal for a while (back down to twice as loud as normal now… much better). I tried going to Starbucks one day in the midst of it and had to get out of their immediately. It was hell. The squeal from the coffee maker, the scraping of chairs on the floor and all the voices layered on top of each other… it was beyond too much. Even trying to talk to more than one person at a time was too much for a while there.

I’ve been told the labyrinthitis is affecting me kinda like a concussion, head trauma. It helps explain what has been going on for me and really makes me feel for people who have had to recover from severe concussions. I’ve had it easy in the grand scheme of things.

Anyways, like I said before its great to be on the mend. With the help of modern medicine, I am now increasingly a cyborg. I have a hearing aid that makes those new iPhone Bluetooth headphones seem silly (ok maybe they did already). This will be my first race as a cyborg. I now officially have an excuse to be one of those d-bags with a Bluetooth headset. Also I can control my hearing and podcasts with my watch (no excuse for that).

If you are in Vancouver and want to go for a run with a cyborg I will be running with clubs and clinics as much as I can in the next month in the lead up to the Great Climate Race on October 30th.

Are you coming to the race this year? So far my personal favourite team name is Narwhal Blessings. Get it (google it)? Creative right? Give David Halim a high five for that one (and for being a super star volunteer). You could join his team. Or start your own. What’s your team gonna be called? ;)

I’m thinking an animal theme for a Halloween weekend run for climate solutions kinda makes sense. Right?

Ok that’s it from me for now. Thanks for taking the time to listen to me kvetch about what’s been going on with me. It really does help. Please feel free to share your own experiences in the comments.

Wish me luck this weekend!

Cheers,

ben