(Actually, it’s more like “StomachBlog” at this point.) After a series of some pretty good runs last week, I went out for my 10K on Sunday and it completely SUCKED. Within five minutes, the right side of my lower back was seizing up and throbbing with every step. I still managed to do 9K, but only by stopping every five minutes to attempt to stretch it out. It killed. I immediately fired off an email to my physio, who scheduled me in for an appointment Wednesday night. When I got there, I gave him an update about my stomach ulcer and he immediately tied the two together. According to him, my body is probably “in a state of inflammation,” and he didn’t want do any serious massage for fear of making it worse. He did work into my sides a bit (above my hips), which was incredibly tense and painful. Oddly, releasing that tension made me feel better (in my stomach) almost immediately. He says they’re my “worry” muscles, and tensing them (from stress or from pain) might be contributing to the lower back pain. I went out for a slow 5K this morning, and the change was really noticeable. I did feel a bit sluggish through the last mile, but at least I didn’t have to stop and stretch at every light pole. Two steps forward, one step back…