Hello, everyone. If you’re new, welcome to my journey to the Baltimore Marathon! You can catch up here.

Over the weekend, I switched it up by going on a bike ride with my cycling club. I thought it would be a good way to give my knees a break while still getting in my endurance training.

Of course, in an effort to prevent injury, I sustained one. (Life’s little ironies.) The day after the ride, I concluded that I had tweaked my back badly enough to cause concern about my ability to do the marathon.

I’m not a newbie to back pain. After all, the doctor at my executive physical had noted my susceptibility to back injuries. I had felt this particular pain before, so I knew I needed to go see someone about it. But I moved recently, and I didn’t have time to research new doctors or make the trip back to my old one, so I called TopDoc Connect, and they did the research for me. My Specialty Care Consultant connected me with a great orthopedic specialist nearby and even helped me get an appointment.

I can’t stress enough how much of a help this is. I’ve said it before, but training for an event like this adds a lot of hours onto your week, which, if it’s anything like mine, is already pretty packed. If something goes wrong (every runner’s nightmare), how do you find the time to deal with it and get help? TopDoc Connect, included in the Ultimate Health plan, made finding a great physician specialist and making an appointment nearly effortless. This is a situation that could have completely upended my week and my training, but thanks to TopDoc Connect, I’m still on track.

The specialist prescribed massage therapy and stretching and said if the pain subsides, I could be good to go within the week! And by the way, prescribed massage therapy is covered by Ultimate Health, too, so no worries there.

I’ll need a little rest, but I’ll be back out there soon!