Bye Bye Chest Pain

I have been waiting to write this post to be absolutely sure it's gone for good, but after six weeks or so of good running mileage, I think I can finally say my chest pain is gone for good.

For anybody unfamiliar with this, the whole story is here in a blog I wrote after having the pain in a race where I set my half marathon PR. In a nutshell, for the last four years I have had terrible, searing chest pain, left of center, that comes on only while running. It comes and goes, and seems to coincide with times when I am having bad heartburn. This spring was the worst I can ever remember it being, as it would hit me in almost every run, and with greater intensity than ever.

Then I got cancer this summer, and I had to stop running. I had two operations to remove my thyroid gland, and the golf ball sized tumor that was growing off the left side of it. When I finally got around to running again, I was really concerned about how my neck was going to feel. I had limited mobility for several weeks as the tendons stretched and my scar healed, and it would pull a little while running (in fact, it still hurts while swimming).

So I was so focused on my neck, that I don't think I realized the lack of chest pain for the first couple runs. But with each run, I began to wait for it, anticipating the pain would come back eventually. But no, it never came, and here I am over a hundred miles run since starting back up, and not even a whisper of pain. How can this be???

I have a theory: large thyroid tumors like mine have been known to cause tracheal compression and even esophageal compression depending on how they are situated. While running, the increased diaphragm pressure caused the tumor and my esophagus to press together, causing an esophageal spasm. I know I am grasping at straws, but I have no other reason why it would just disappear after getting that tumor out. Whatever it was, I am really glad its gone.

It feels so good to not have to run in fear of that pain. In the middle of all the cancer stuff this summer, a buddy of mine told me that when I finally get back to training again, it's going to feel like an engine running with the restrictor plate removed. He was talking about the tumor and trying to lift my spirits, but I couldn't have guessed how right he would be.