Let me tell you about my weekend.
Catalina has made it clear that she does not like my sofa. I decided that when she came back to Canada we would go shopping for a replacement. Fortunately Costco had some nice comfortable reclining chairs for sale so I took her down there on Saturday to get an opinion on them. She liked them, so we went and bought them. The store would hold them for 24 hours while we got ready for them.
We walked back home and drove the car back. It is a lot harder to drive to Costco than to walk. With all the one-way streets, and traffic jams, it seems to take about the same time as walking. Catalina went in and brought one of the chairs out in a flat-bed cart. In the harsh light of day it was clear there was no way that the box would fit in any orifice of the car. This is going to be a problem.
We thought about phoning friends and seeing if they had a bigger car we could borrow. Eventually we got the idea of borrowing one of the flat-bed carts and rolling it home that way. We called and got permission for this, as long as we deposited a driver’s license. However, that would be something we would need to do on Sunday.
In the meantime we had put the sofa in Craigslist to see if anyone would take it off our hands. In the worst case scenario we could get someone to take it away for $50 to donate to a refugee family. But we did get someone and they were willing to come on Sunday afternoon with their moving truck.
On Sunday morning we walked back to Costco. We were able to get both chairs onto one cart and then started rolling. It actually went fairly quickly, although the hill on Smithe was a bit of a struggle.
When we got to the building though, it became clear that the boxes were too big for any of the doors. So we went to the loading dock in the back and struggled to get them up the short flight of stairs. After that, with the security guard’s help, and the loan of his rolling cart, we were able to get them into the elevator and into the apartment in two separate trips.
Afterwards we took the flat-bed cart back to Costco.
Now the problem was the sofa. It was a bigger problem than it should have been, because due to reasons, there was only one elevator working in the building. And it wasn’t the moving elevator. Heck, even getting the sofa out of the apartment was a struggle because of existing furniture in the way. It would only go through doors if it was on its end and rotated through. In other words, it couldn’t be done on the rolling cart.
And with only one elevator working, it was always packed with people.
Our first attempt to get it onto the small elevator didn’t work. It seemed to be a touch too big. Maybe if we took the small legs off? Well, they needed a Phillips screwdriver to do that, and the only one I had did not work well with the small holes. Eventually I was able to get two off with an eyeglass screwdriver, which was not enough. This was not my finest moment.
On the second attempt we got it on board by treating the elevator doors like a regular door and rotating it through when it briefly opened. All with an audience in the elevator, including a security guard.
After that, we got the sofa back to the loading dock and let the Craigslist guy pick it up.
The chairs were assembled. It was soon discovered that they needed more outlets to deal with all the features. So we had to go out and buy a powerbar for them. But then, everything was done. The chairs had their place. They reclined nicely. They are comfortable and I’ve even caught Catalina sleeping in them.
And all of this moving was done while my back is not in the best shape.

When I flew to Houston last February, sitting in the airplane seat messed me up and eventually caused plantar fasciitis. I’m still feeling the effects of that.
I thought I had taken good enough care of myself this time to avoid any bad effects. I even made sure to stand up and move about the cabin on the flight. And things went well. I was able to run in Houston without any issues. I felt I had dodged a bullet.
When I got back to Canada, things started out okay. I had no pains when I ran. I even did a 23km run on New Year’s Day (four days after I got back) that, when mapped, looked like Santa. The next day, Wednesday, there was a quick run, and on the way home, I had a bit of pain in my back. Nothing serious though.
It was still there the next day. On the Friday I noticed it may have been connected to my left calf. So I spent that evening and the morning of the next day massaging it, and using a foam roller. I even made an appointment to see a massage therapist, although the next availability wasn’t for two weeks. My run at lunch felt great. Until I got to the halfway point. Then things got worse and worse. I was hurting a lot by the time I got back home. In fact I could barely walk.
On Sunday, I decided that my run would only be 5km. It still hurt. Things weren’t getting better.
By the next Wednesday, my run was only ten minutes, and it was painful the entire time.
I kept at that time/distance until last Friday when I saw a physiotherapist. He diagnosed me with an L5/S1 (Lumbosacral Joint) sprain with nerve root irritation. Basically my back is sprained, and my muscles were fighting to protect it. That is why my legs and butt hurt while I was running. And the impacts were going to make things worse.
In other words I have to stop running. I had gotten up to 288 days of consecutive running.
I have some exercises I can do that will help things. And I hopefully will get back to it soon enough.
I thought about trying to keep the streak going with water jogging, but that would have been too large a commitment to keep doing that every day by going to a pool some distance away. It is doable, but unpleasant enough to not make it worth it.
And, I’m okay with failure. I was hoping to get up to one year of daily running, but if it was easy, it wouldn’t be an accomplishment. In my head I thought of those people who have been doing daily runs for thirty years. But they do such short runs that it isn’t really a challenge. I’ve been doing usually about 12km. That’s not easy and each day is an accomplishment.
Besides, I’ve noticed several other injuries are starting to lessen now that I’m giving my body a break. So there is that too.