almost didn't go anywhere yesterday

While I wasn't exactly in excruciating agony yesterday, I did strain my back a few hours before I had planned to go across town, and that experience left me walking around gingerly, wincing. The inciting incident happened when I leaned over my bed to pick up the 10-kilo dumbbells I had left there to take a break from my exercise set. When the spasm and the pain hit, my first emotions were annoyance and anger; when I slowly realized how deep the spasm had gone, I began to wonder whether I should cancel dinner with Charles and his wife. I stiffened and braced my core (which is something I must still do consciously because, despite my various exercises, I've got a long way to go to repair my core); this reduced pain, and for the next two to three hours, I did everything gingerly and found my brain stuck in Cancel with Charles or not? mode. By the end of that time, I felt good enough to override the hesitation with a Fuck it, I'll go, and so I went. Dinner went more or less smoothly, as did the taxi ride back to my place. And today, I feel a bit better, though still far from 100%. Today's a fasting day, so I'll just take it easy, sip some liquid, and try to remember to keep my core braced (I have to remind myself every thirty seconds). I ought to be much better in a day or two.

These sorts of back spasms are rare, but when they happen, they can be big. No spasm has ever been debilitatingly, flat-on-your-back bad, but I often wonder when the Big One is going to hit. On that day, I'll undoubtedly have to cancel my plans.