Pulled muscle in the Upper Back

I have until Sunday to prepare for the annual Koriyama City Marathon (actually a 10K and a 10 Mile run). I was just on track to possibly beat my time last year and finish the 10 mile in under 60 minutes. Maybe I could do it.

But on Tuesday, I woke up with a horrible pain in my neck, and the inability to do the following things:

• Tilt my head 40 degrees in either direction without searing pain shooting through my neck.
• Lift anything more than 10 pounds with out more serious pain.
• Smile and be happy and cheerful with my students.
  

My luckiness healthwise has left me unprepared to deal with what I'm hoping is just a routine sports injury. I took the advice of a friend, and got a massage for 2000 yen. I also took it easy that night and stayed off the back. I wasn't even able to run more than 7 minutes on Tuesday due to the back pain.

I used to think people with sports injuries were folks who pushed themselves WAAAYYY too hard, or just really wimpy people who didn't understand the idiom, "no pain no gain." Now that I've actually had one, I feel differently. This really stinks! Not only does this hurt and prevent me from doing what I like, but I may not be ready for my 10 mile run if this doesn't clear up.