Down in the Back

Every now and again it happens:  I do something to my lower back.  Normally it’s my lower left back.  I guess it started yesterday morning, and it stayed with me the bulk of yesterday, last night, and today.  I am hopeful that it will be gone in the morning.  It’s just a dull ache akin to someone stabbing me there with a dull butterknife.  Nice.

In the past, I have thought it may be stress related.  My body does not process stress well.  It’s not uncommon for me to pop a stress blister or some other ailment — pains in arms and back, etc.  This time, the onset may be traced to either a moment of overzealous exercising:  “Can this treadmill really do a ten percent incline?”  Or, it may have been the workout with weights yesterday, although I really did not push myself for fear of injury.  Maybe in the fear of injury I became stressed and that caused my back to flare up. 

We had a pretty quiet Memorial Day all in all.  Late in the day we trekked across town to a friend’s and hung out, barbecued some burgers and hotdogs, chips, beans, ice cream, and a couple of beers. Heck, if you can’t indulge a little on a national holiday, then there is something drastically wrong.  I brought my Martin D-18 and the Gibson A9 mandolin.  I find that having an instrument or two with me helps me cope extended social visits;  yes, i realize that these may be thought of a wooden pacifiers.

I did not have a good weigh in today:  223.5

I need to get my focus back.  Tomorrow, our summer session begins, and I am teaching the ten-week session.  Here is what I am proposing to myself:  lose two pounds a week for ten weeks.  No beer or ice cream (with the exception of the 4th of July; it’s a national holiday).  This would put me close to 200 by the end of the summer,  I can do this if I put my mind to it.  I have done it before.  I am tired of carrying this extra weight around.  I really do not feel well at all.