Woe Is Knee

If it's not one thing, it's another, so it seems.

Although I wasn't putting in a lot of running mileage, I was beginning to feel like a runner again. I spent several weeks doing slow heart rate training, I dropped a few pounds, started adding in some speedwork, you know the drill.

Then my old nemesis—my right knee—had other plans. You probably thought it was my heel, right? Sorry...that's my NEW nemesis (even though THAT issue is now in its "Terrible Twos".) No, the beast that lives within my right knee—which has been dormant for a few years—has awakened. And he ain't happy.

I had an MRI done on that knee back in 1997, which revealed a partially torn meniscus and degenerative cartilage. The doctor...who was overweight and smelled like cigarettes...advised me to give up running.

HA, I say!

So...4,500 or so running miles later, the knee is reminding me that it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Why?

Maybe it's the speedwork (although this week, an easy 5-miler set it off again). You don't need to be a mind reader to deduce how frustrating it is to be a runner with frequent and chronic injuries.

[As an aside, if you get Northwest Runner Magazine, you can read my article on coping with injuries in the September 2012 issue.]

So...where to now? As fate would have it, I'll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. I'll bring my running gear, but I'll be busy vacationing (i.e. allowing my bank account to be raped by Orlando theme parks), so there may not be a lot of running going on anyway.

*sigh*

Maybe this will convince me to get back into the pool. Don't hold your breath, though.

See what I did there? I made a little swimming joke!

Ahem. Carry on...