Stay still, turn off the lights

Yesterday was the MRI of my head which is an attempt to give a clearer picture of exactly what is going on with my right ear.  Once again they asked for payment up front which I find annoying.  I had a conventional MRI a long time ago so I sort of knew what I was in for.  Although I’m not claustrophobic, being in a space where you literally can not move is not pleasant.  The MRI at this facility was actually housed in a truck trailer in the parking lot, weird.

My scan was going to consist of two parts, one regular scan and then another scan after they inject me with some sort of dye to provide additional contrast to the image.  The tech stressed how I needed to keep my head as still as possible.  If you move in the middle of an imaging run they have to redo it, meaning you are stuck in the tube even longer.

I normally am pretty itchy, especially on my head.  Just watch any YouTube video I have and you will surely see me scratch my head or face more than once.  Knowing I was more or less locked in place for 45-50 minutes gave me some anxiety as I laid down on the table.  The tech put a pair of headphones on me that had a radio station playing and then put a plastic cage sort of thing over my head.  He once again told me to stay as still as possible as my body started to get inserted into the machine.

The chamber was tight.  My arms drug on the side of the tube as I moved, forcing me to pull them closer and hold them in a somewhat awkward position.  Having the roof of the chamber a few inches from your face is not a good feeling.  I almost immediately closed my eyes and left them that way for the entire session.  Thankfully there was a steady flow of air going through the tube to keep me cool.

The sound an MRI makes is very loud.  The imaging goes in solid spurts ranging from 2-4 minutes in length during which the rhythmic droning drowns out everything else.  At times I could feel the electro-magnetic forces pulsating through my head, it was an odd sensation.  Of course it didn’t take very long until I had an itch on my head which of course I could do nothing about except wait for it to subside, which it eventually did. I thought when I got pulled out of the tube to get the injection I might be able to scratch any itches but I had to keep my head glued in place the entire time, even during the injection.

The session after the injection felt slightly shorter than the first one although my sense of time became somewhat distorted inside the tube.  Despite the itch urges the tech said I did an excellent job at staying still.  When I finally got pulled from the tube it was a relief.  After scratching my head thoroughly I gathered my things and was on my way.  I am stopping back there at lunch to pick up my images on DVD.  Although I don’t know what I will actually be looking at, I guess it’s a good thing to have images of my brain, just in case.

So a little less than two years ago I bought my own used timing box.  It was the start of the idea I had to make my timing skills my own part time gig, outside of what I had been doing for the running club for many years.  The idea of me calling the shots and being able to charge more for my services seemed appealing.  Once I broke away as the club timer in January I assumed I would start actively timing more events on my own.  I invested a good chunk of money in getting more equipment to help me in that regard. I bought some laptops, an inflatable arch, generator, race clock. shelter and several other things.

I did do a couple events, all small in size.  They went ok but despite their size brought on similar amounts of stress as bigger races I used to time, partially because I was dealing with a different cast of people that I had no idea how competent or incompetent they were.

Then a weird thing happened.  After not timing a race for a few months I started to realize just how little I missed it.  I got a decent amount of inquiries about timing other events and most of them I turned away immediately.  I did schedule two events, one in October and another in November, both of them involving friends of mine.  I have since handed off the November event to another timer, leaving only the October race on my calendar.   I was talking loosely with Ali about timing her race in January but again had no real enthusiasm for it.

So anyway I think I have decided that after the October commitment I will be closing the doors on Green Machine Timing.  At this point in my life I just have very little tolerance for putting myself in situations I don’t enjoy.  Life is too short.  My cost of living salary bumps at my real job combined with YouTube money have already pretty much erased any income hit I took walking away from running club timing.  Unloading all of my stuff will help me recoup some of that money and reclaim a lot of space in our third bedroom.

In a way I feel much the same I did regarding the SSR.  Starting my own timing gig sounded like a great idea but the reality of it turned out to be different.  Race timing has been part of my life for the greater part of the last decade but things change.  Much like the SSR, I don’t think I am going to really miss it all that much when it’s gone.

I am picking up the DVD of my MRI results at lunch.  Instead of going to the gym, I brought my Ninebot One in the Prius.  After parking at the med center I plan to get a little bit of riding in around coastal Naples.  Should be fun.