Continuing on my 10k journey today, I needed to get a run in and unfortunately the weather outside had already turned miserable, wet, cold and slippery by early afternoon.  I left work early for a doctor’s appointment about my mysterious back pain again.  The doctor seemed fairly stumped by everything I told her and didn’t have much to offer in the way of a diagnosis, possibly indigestion of some sort.  She gave me some new medication to try and scheduled another appointment for a month from now to see if it helps.  It’s frustrating because like with the physical therapy, I didn’t have an episode during the month that I was doing the therapy and so they called it a success and sent me on my way, however the pain is just not that predictable.  Maybe it’ll happen this month, maybe not, how am I to know if the medication is really the cause if I am pain free for the month?  The only thing I do know is that if I do still have one of these episodes while trying this medication the Dr. is going to send me to a specialist of some sort because I’ve got her totally stumped.  But anyway, I digress, after the appointment there was a coat of snow on my car and I decided to finally check out one of the gyms around here and see what they had to offer.  I was going to go to the Y but chickened out when I saw a lot of cars in the parking lot and instead I went to the Lakeshore Fitness center instead.  I was a little unsure where to go at first when I got there, the place was fairly deserted, but once I got pointed in the right direction the guy at the fitness desk was very helpful and was able to answer all of my questions for me and let me work out for free today to get a feel for the place.  I mentioned that whenever I drive by the parking lot is always full and he confirmed my suspicions that those cars are mostly for soccer/hockey/lacrosse games that are held at the facility and that the fitness center itself doesn’t tend to get real crowded most times.  I’m still going to check out the Y, but right now I’m thinking that I’m going to go with this place, the rates are pretty reasonable and after I settled into my run at the treadmill I felt comfortable in the space.  Unfortunately I got my training schedule mixed up (only on the 2nd day, that takes talent) and I only ran 2 miles when I was actually scheduled for 2.5.  Running on the treadmill was something I hadn’t done for years and so it took me some getting used to to figure out the right speed and incline for me and such, but as usual once I got a mile into the run I settled down and felt pretty good.  After running outside in the cold for the past couple months though I got hot and sweaty real fast in that space.  Definitely a note to self to wear less clothing next time I go.  Since I mixed up my days I figure I’ll just substitute the 2.5 I was supposed to do today for the 2 mile run that is on the schedule for Thursday.  Tomorrow though I’m somewhat stumped as to what to do.  It’s my first cross training day and it’s certainly not going to bike riding or hiking sort of weather outside as the snow and sleet is supposed to continue all night and all day tomorrow.  I might go to the Y after work and see if I can get a look at that place and use the equipment there for a free workout tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I’m not too familiar with all the advances gym equipment has made since the last time I stepped foot into one (high school?).  I’m sure I can figure out any cardio equipment, but I hate looking foolish in front of people, even if I don’t know them.  I am very self conscious by nature and it’s a hard flaw to fight.

By the time I finished my run at the gym it was still earlier than I would have gotten out of work had I not left early and so I headed home and got in my full weights and core routine which made me feel really good to be getting back on a schedule after the last couple of weeks.  Now however I feel a migraine coming on and I’m just hoping that doesn’t throw off all of my plans for tomorrow.  I was kinda hoping for a snow day but the weather just isn’t that bad out there for all the hype the weathermen were giving this storm, so we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.