Ye Olde Updayte Tyme Again!

Just a quick check-in to update the proceedings at Resurrected Runner Headquarters.

Fall has settled upon the Inland Northwest, and we've taken it upon ourselves to hire an entirely new staff. By "staff," I of course am referring to a brand new pen, a new page in my old school running log, and a new and improved mess of running shoes scattered across my closet floor.

Aside from that, here are a few updates:

1. My broken arm is still broken, but I've finally moved out of the splint and am doing a series of exercises to regain both strength and mobility. It's going surprisingly well. If that continues, I won't need official occupational therapy. The scar is also healing nicely, too. It'll still be a while before I can lift anything heavy.

 

2. I've been running twice per week for going on 6 weeks now, gradually increasing both my pace and distance. Last Thursday, I ran a not-so-easy 7-miler (longest run in 2 years). This morning, I cranked out a nice 4 mile tempo run, followed by 4 x .08 mile strides, for a cumulative average pace of 7:46 per mile. Probably didn't need to do the strides, given my knee issue. But man, they felt good! It seems like this twice per week frequency is at least somewhat agreeable to my knee, given that it has felt about the same for every run this past 5 weeks.

3. Which leads me to the knee MRI update. Since we're still fighting my insurance company on my broken arm costs, and they've been GLACIALLY slow at processing claims, it now looks like I won't be able to get my MRI by my October 16th deadline, unless I want to pay for it out of pocket. Given how much we've already paid out of pocket for my arm, I don't think this will be doable for us right now, sadly.

4. However, I have been doing some knee-related exercises and stretches in an attempt to remedy the situation myself. I've done plenty of reading and video watching and am doing what I need to do for "runner's knee," which is a rather ambiguous term for the pain I'm experiencing. Not sure if it's helping yet, but as I mentioned earlier, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, given my two runs per week currently. One probable side effect of my left knee pain is a right hip that's been pretty sore. I would guess that I'm compensating for the knee while I'm running. Dang, this old body...

5. To continue on the running theme (hey, I should do a blog about running!), I am now 15 miles shy of 10,000 lifetime running miles. Unless something interesting happens the next couple of weeks, I'll probably refrain from posting here until I hit that milestone.

...and you never know what kind of interesting injury I can fit in between now and then, so stay tuned!