The last time I bothered to update my blog, I was having a knee situation.
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| Ice on the back and the front. Yes, I wear flip flops to work. |
Now normally, I wouldn't worry too much about that. I might give myself a break from running until it felt better, which is just me not feeling bad about any sort of desire to plant my ass on my couch instead of running. Better lazy safe, than sorry, right? Then I'd proceed to take more time off of running than necessary and call it "resting my injury" which is just code for "I'm addicted to Netflix and I can't stop watching long enough to put on running clothes."
In all of my 4 years of racing, I've never been too freaked out about a tweaked joint or muscle, but my knee had me on a downward spiral that was starting to border lunacy. After all, the New York City Marathon is less than two weeks away.
Last Monday night, I ran 4 miles on my bad knee and I was okay, but definitely worried about how I would feel at mile 15, 18, or 22 of the marathon. I've trained for this marathon 3 years in a row - 2012 was cancelled, 2013 deferred and 2014 is my last shot. To say I was going into freak out mode is an understatement. I don't think I could have finished a half, let alone a full.
So after a fair amount of wailing, whining and crying, a friend of mine made me an appointment with a naturopathic joint specialist. He actually got on the phone and made the appointment, most likely in an effort to keep me from bothering him every 5 seconds.
Long story short- I had prolotherapy done on my knee, which is where they inject glucosamine, glucose, procaine, etc, into the joint and it promotes self healing without using steroids. Being a naturopathic clinic, they use hydrocortisone as a last resort. The doctor told me that if I was still having trouble, they'd do a steroid injection.
Well, let me tell you: they inject a decent amount of fluid into the joint. So I left the clinic in much worse shape than when I walked in. I could barely walk. And now I was worried that I had made a huge mistake. When I walked in, I was still capable of running and barely capable of even walking on my way out.
Luckily, I was able to walk the next day and it's gotten better each day since the procedure. This morning was the first day since my injection on Thursday that my knee felt better than pre-injection.
Hallelujah. Now I can finally calm the fuck down. Just to show how seriously I've taken this, I haven't even ridden my horse (my trainer has ridden him, though) and that almost never happens. I just can't risk this marathon. I've worked too hard to get here.
I was supposed to run the Lake Powell Half on Saturday as my last long run, but I stayed home. I haven't run since last Monday, and I still think it would be prudent to give it another couple of days. I'm concerned about losing a bit of my endurance, but I guess being able to toe the line of the NYCM start is better than watching from the sidelines.
In short, I'm back to being excited for the NYC Marathon.
And speaking of Netflix, I'm now obsessed with Reign. I watched the first four episodes last night, which means I got four hours of sleep. So damn good! Is anyone else watching this show? Let's discuss, mmmm'kay?
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