Broken

Yeah, I suppose my good luck had to end sooner or later.

The good news is my flu left almost as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared. I was sick as a dog from Saturday to Wednesday. It hit me all at once and just stayed bad.

Until I woke up on Thursday and I was magically cured.

I felt great. I still had a slight sniffle, but my head was no longer congested and I had no cough at all. I was so excited to get out there and run on Saturday with my group I couldn't even stand it. We had a 16 mile run scheduled and since I had only run a total of 4 miles since the marathon, I decided to meet them at their 10 mile mark and run in a conservative 6 miles with them at the end.

"Six miles is nothing", I thought. "My flu is gone, and my knees only have a slight dull ache after I sit for a few hours, nothing to worry about", I told myself.

I'm sure you can detect my ominous foreshadowing.

So I ran. Not fast, but a nice, easy pace with walk breaks. The last mile, I fell to the back (way back) with another in my group that was having some issues. I wasn't tired or having any ill affects of the flu, but my knees...my aching, throbbing, fire-ridden knees!



By the time I was done I could barely walk. We went to breakfast with a large group and as I sat, I couldn't even lift my legs. When I went back to pick up my car later from the 10 mile mark, I could barely drive. Yes, it hurt to lift my legs from the gas to the break pedal. Thank God I got rid of my stick-shift last year!

My friend Kevin who is not a medical doctor, but has his PhD in Exercise Physiology talked to me and told me it sounds like Patellar Tendonitis. Of course I need to get checked out to make sure, but after doing a bit of research on my own, it's word for word how I feel. Unfortunately, the first treatment is to STOP ALL RUNNING. Then ice, ice some more and to not run some more.

As we all know, it is pretty hard to train for a marathon without running.

I know I should be happy with my first marathon. I did one and it was great and blah, blah, blah. But I really want to do Miami as well. AND I was looking forward to the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and the Sarasota Half Marathon in March. I had this whole grand plan about the next 6 months of my life and this has totally threw me for a loop.

Not to mention I can't work out right now (since I can barely walk) and this makes being a part of POM's weight loss challenge a bit difficult. I have officially GAINED 4lbs since the marathon.

Sigh.

And then there is the weather. The beautiful, wonderful, HUMIDITY FREE weather is FINALLY HERE!!!!! What I wouldn't do to be out there running in this awesomeness! Damn you evil Miami and your summer devil weather!

The good news is, I have a plan. Half-assed, but a plan nonetheless.

I have started getting up in the mornings and walking my dog for at least 30 minutes. If I can't run, at least we both will get a little exercise by patrolling the neighborhood in the A.M. This is good for her since the time change makes it hard to walk her at night. Not so good for me since she is 12 years old and walks like a 90 year old woman. Oh, and she stops to sniff EVERY THREE STEPS!!! But whatever, it is nice to hang out with her outside in the mornings.

I also have this whole group leader thing to worry about. Saturday is their first 20 miler and instead of running it, I plan on borrowing a bike and riding with them. We have two other leaders in the group, so I could just skip it, but I feel being out here with them doing something will help me from sitting at home and feeling sorry for myself. It will also keep me from staying up late and eating/drinking on Friday nights, which will help me from gaining more weight (beer and pizza are my downfalls).

Along with that, I am still making it to the gym in the mornings a couple days a week to lift with Jeremy and soon, my knees will feel better enough so I can use the elliptical again.

So my plan is to not run for at LEAST three weeks. Do NOTHING that aggravates my knees in any way. Then on December 3 I will go out for a 1-2 mile run (with walk breaks) and see how I feel. If I'm OK, I will work my way back up. If it still hurts, I am totally screwed and need to make a doctors appointment because I have probably really messed something up. For now it's rest and ice packs on the knees every 2 hours. Plus Motrin. Oh how I love Mortin. Who needs stomach lining anyway? Maybe without it, I will stop stuffing my face with beer and pizza.

Unfortunately, I will more than likely not be able to do the full marathon in Miami. If I feel good in a few weeks, I can maybe attempt the half, but if I feel any pain at all, I wont do it. it's just not worth it to me for this much pain. Of course, I could try the half in Miami and the full in Sarasota, but I don't even want to get worked up about that just in case.

Cinderella (the band not the princess) wasn't kidding. You really do not know what you've got until it's gone.