HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Happy Independence Day! I hope everyone is having a wonderful time at BBQ's and fireworks displays tonight. This is always a wonderful time of year. As for me, I didn't wake up this morning expecting to start my own blog. Not at all. I happened to receive a link to a friend's blog and got to thinking. I've enjoyed keeping a journal over the years. There have been times I write often and other times the pages stay blank for months at a time. Today, I decided a blog would be an excellent time for me to detail my road to recovery and other events in life I choose to share with family and friends.

Tomorrow is a HUGE day for me. After one and a half years of struggling with an injury to my left knee, I'm having surgery. It all started while I was training for the Boston Marathon in February 2006. To give you a little background, I have not been a life-long runner. I was one of those people that headed out the door for a jog from time to time, never really keeping track of my milage or speed. That all changed in 2003 when I moved to San Francisco and joined a running program on a whim. I thought it would be a great way to meet people. It was, and I was hooked quickly. In 2004 I ran two marathons, among shorter races. Then, in 2005 I embarked on triathlon. I was coerced to purchase a road bike and off I went, swimming, cycling, and running. I competed in a few Olympic distance triathlons and one Half Ironman that year. They were tough, but I had a great time. My life revolved around training and my teammates. I'm not an elite athlete by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed some PR's (personal records) and was thrilled to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It was a big deal to me.

5 weeks before Boston, the pain in my left knee began. It started somewhere under my kneecap, in the middle on my knee, and radiated out from there. I had never experienced pain like that and realized soon, it was not going to go away like other aches and pains I felt in the past. I was literally heartbroken. I muddled my way through the next 5 weeks with the help of a chiropractor friend and physical therapy. As you can tell from the photo, I finished the marathon! In hindsight, remembering the excruciating pain, maybe it was not such a good idea, but I knew myself well. If it were any other race, I would have let it go, but it was Boston. From the moment I learned I was a decent runner, I wanted to qualify and run that marathon. It meant so much to me. Once my knee pain began, I was afraid I would never be able to qualify again and this could be my only chance. I finished in 4:10:54. It was slow and painful, but I got my medal.

That was the last race I completed. Ever since I've been on a course of trial and error and sometimes complete sedentary rest. The last thing I wanted was surgery. A year ago my coaches said I had enough recovery time and encouraged me to get out and try to run again. Each workout, even swimming, would result in aches and swelling in my knee. It was so disappointing. The multiple doctors I saw claimed it was probably Patella Femoral Syndrome (Runners Knee) and many of these doctors were condescending and rude. Words of, "You may never run a marathon again" were uttered or they would mention, "Running and triathlons are hard on your body." This, with gleam of you've-been-very-bad in their eyes. I had X-rays, another round of physical therapy, and finally an MRI last October. Even that showed I had the "healthy knee of a 35-year-old runner." This meant there was some wear and tear, but nothing to prove immediate surgery was needed. I went back to swimming, a little yoga, and mostly rest. January rolled around and I tried a lidocaine shot suggested by my chosen doctor, Dr. Lesley J. Anderson, a local orthopedic surgeon (I felt she cared a little more than the others about my situation). The shot did not help and she said I had two choices. 1) I could live with the discomfort or 2) She could take a more invasive step and scope the inside of my knee. She claimed MRI's can miss things. I decided to give it some more time and got another opinion. Dr. Christina Allen at USCF actually agreed with the scope. She claimed sometimes when an inflammation occurs, it will not go away until a surgeon goes in to remove it. On the side of caution, she suggested more physical therapy. At that time a training colleague suggested MAT (Muscle Activation Techniques) therapy and I gave that a try. I thought it was a great new type of therapy (seriously, I highly recommend it), but after 8 sessions I realized it was not working for me. In early May, I decided I was not willing to live with my knee discomfort and scheduled a knee scope with Dr. Anderson for July 5, 2007. I was happy to learn my coaches, family, and friends were supportive of my decision. It had been long enough and with all the rest I've given it, my knee should have healed by now. Maybe it just needs a little help.

My hope is that Dr. Anderson will find something she can fix. Something to at least get me back to normal exercise, then hopefully some training in time. There are still so many races I want to do! These days, I am not even able to workout at the gym like the average person. A 40 minute swim will result in some aches and swelling. While I sneak out from time to time for a short run on Crissy Field, my knee cannot really handle it. It takes a few days to recover after my secret jogs. If I am eventually able to get back to training and races, I will be much smarter about it this time. When the pain started, I was running, cycling, swimming, and doing BootCamp twice a week. Sometimes two workouts a day! I learned the hard way that this was too much for my body. More rest and recovery between workouts will be required in the future. I realize I may have to deal with "bad knees" for the rest of my life. First, the surgery. I will know MUCH more tomorrow afternoon at California Pacific Medical Center when Dr. A tells me what she found.

Thanks for reading my very long posting! I promise my posts in the future to be much shorter and to the point. I simply needed to get you caught up on this 4th of July, 2007. Happy red, white, and blue to all!