Monday, December 30, 2013

Cuss Word

Have you ever seen the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox?  If not I highly recommend that you do so.  Its really good.  This is one of my favorite scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5hZnkzMxQA .  Of course my kids have no idea what cuss means ... and I wonder how did that happen?  A cuss word was like the epic of dirty mouth talk when I was growing up.

But I digress.  My point is that I want to say a cuss word right now.  My marathon training for Boston kicked off a couple weeks ago.  With the holidays it was a slow start but my starting mileage was about right and I nailed a 13 miler with 6 at race pace (on the cussin' treadmill no less) last week so I was pleased.  On Christmas day I went out for a medium paced 9 miler.  My knees were sore but have been quite a bit lately so this wasn't new.  I ran a few hills for the first time since Thanksgiving (when my left  knee started acting up and my doctor recommended I try to stay on flat courses for a while) and as the run progressed my right knee felt increasingly tight.  So I decided to cut off the last half mile and head for home.   I turned around and started running down the sidewalk and all of the sudden my right knee kind of popped.  Out of nowhere.  I stopped dead in my tracks trying to figure out what the cuss had just happened.  I walked for a bit and then kind of limp/ jogged it in the rest of the way.  Once I got home my knee started to throb.  I iced it, elevated it, took some naproxen and kept my fingers crossed.  But as the night went on it got tighter to the point I couldn't fully straighten it without pain.  The next day I was in a lot of discomfort and hobbled around most of the morning.  Thankfully I already had an appointment scheduled with my orthopaedic surgeon for an injection on my left knee so I hoped he could do something to help.  The good news is that he wasn't overly concerned that I did anything horrible to my knee just running.  The bad news is that the cortisone shot he gave me provided very short lived relief and my knee is no better 5 days later.

I'm trying not to lose my mind.  It was at about this same point in training last year that I rolled my ankle and had to take a few days off and I thought my chances at a PR in Boston were shot.  But 5 days out of that I was jogging again.  Now, not so much.

I'm frustrated.  So cussin' frustrated.  Its the time of the year when everyone gets focused on making healthy life choices and I'm sitting on my butt on the couch watching it all pass me by.  I'm sure this too shall pass and more than likely I'll be able to run Boston even if its not as fast as last year.  Running is a gift and a blessing and right now, more than ever, I'm aware of just how blessed I've been.