Here's my gory little story.

Before I start bemoaning my laborious and somewhat painful day I will start off by saying I finished my half marathon.  As much as I am not satisfied with only doing the half, I am proud of myself for not feeling sorry for myself and just dropping out altogether.  And based on the fact that I missed 6 weeks of training and had 2 sore knees going into this event I am glad I had sense enough to do the half and not try to gut it out for 26 miles because I never would have made it.

And despite the discomfort I feel I am very glad I was able to suffer through this experience rather than completely miss out again.

Without going into unnecessary or trivial details I will go over the highlights..

- The day started off way too early with a serving of oatmeal and brown rice, grabbing my gear and heading to the shuttle bus early enough to avoid the majority of the crowd.  Start time was 6:15, but since it was a wave start we (my brother, 2 of my nephews, my nephew's wife and my niece) didn't actually get to start for almost an hour.

The waiting in the coral was fun with flying beach balls and a bunch of joking around.  I was the only one doing the half marathon, but we all started together.

- There were tens of thousands of people.  I don't know that I've ever seen so many people crammed into such a small area ... or for that matter, I've never seen that many people walking or running along the same path before.  And by the time you added in the bands, the cheering sections, the race officials, and countless others it was an impressive sight.

-  I took my camera because it fit into my plan of very little running early while my legs were fresh and keeping a good walking pace throughout the remainder of the event to finish in under 4 hours and earn my medal.

- I knew I was in trouble on the first long hill.  My knees started hurting, and because my knees were hurting I changed my stride (walking and running) until my ankles and feet started hurting ... not fun.  By the time I reached the 7 mile marker and was still ahead of my pace I decided I couldn't quit ... I was more than half way, why would I?

I used my photography as a tool to keep going.  There were many good pictures to take along the way.  Most I snapped while walking, but a few I stopped to make sure I got a good shot.  I'll give more details on this pic later.

Despite the distractions and a bout of negative thinking during yet another short uphill I kept up a pretty good pace ... although it slowed slightly from the first 4 or 5 miles.  I saw many that couldn't make it ... I also saw many who were pushing despite being blind, being triple amputees or other conditions that I could not imagine dealing with.  I couldn't quit.  I had to continue.

- My feet and knees were now really hurting, but I had crossed mile 11 and wasn't going to give up.  I actually started passing people ... other walkers, but still.  Mile 12.4 saw the last little incline ... It was almost too much, I was barely moving ... 12.5 ... 12.6 ... 12.7 and we were on level ground again.  I could see the end, I could hear the end, but I had slowed so much that I didn't think I was going to make under 4 hours.  I walked faster, then I could hear the crowd cheering and I saw others running across the finish line.

I started to run ... actually, I started to flail and stumble like some spastic baby horse trying to get its footing for the first time.  Someone in the crowd saw my nickname on my bib and yelled, "Come on Da-Bus!"  Suddenly I felt like all eyes were on me.  It was a little embarrassing because I knew it wasn't the effort I could have made absent the issues with the knees.  But I can't wait to see the finisher photo :-)

Now because the marathon and half marathon routes split in a few places it caused for a couple of interesting events.  In the area where the truck crashed it turns out that the entire group was all within a minute or so of each other.  One nephew stopped in that general area because his shoes / feet were bothering him.  My niece and my nephew's wife switched from the full marathon to the half marathon (and did a couple extra miles for their efforts) but because of their faster earlier pace were mere minutes behind me.  My brother and nephew were probably less than 30 seconds behind me on the opposite of the street, but before they could catch me the courses split again.  My niece and my nephew's wife finished about a minute behind me and we just happened to bump into each other in the finish area.  We must have passed each other in opposite directions near mile 11 because there was a u-turn and participants were walking in opposite directions on opposite sides of the road.

So I finished.  My official chip time was 4:00:33.  My Garmin said I finished in 3:58:51 ... I'm not arguing ... I'm not complaining.  I got my medal.  I achieved my goal.

Now I am sitting in my hotel with ice on my knees ... they are more sore than I expected.  I was lucky and wound up with only one small blister that already burst, but I did wind up with seven swollen, purple toes for my efforts, but luckily not on the same foot.  Very sore, quite swollen, dark purple toes to be more specific.  I really believe the different pitches of the roadways was the cause for some of my issues.  We were running on the freeways and on-ramps which are banked for higher speed travel and my body just isn't used to running at those angles ... don't know, but it makes sense to me.

I will post other pictures here and there during my recuperating period.  I will also fill you in on any details or plans I have for future events.  I will finish a marathon someday, I just have to be smarter about my training.

For whatever reason I could not access my account ...

Not that I had anything to say, but ...

OK, here's the deal ...

I had the MRI, I got the results of the MRI and ... There's nothing seriously wrong with my knee.  So why does it hurt?  Is it all in my head??  No ... It's in the middle of my leg.  DUH!

There's some arthritis, my cartilage is frayed, worn out and frayed but not doing any damage to my body.

What are my options?

1 - Get my knee scoped and cleaned up a little, but it won't help with the arthritis or the inflamation
2 - Deal with the pain and keep running and eventually need a new knee
3 - Deal with the pain, do this marathon and then stop running
4 - Dislike all the options and sit at home and feel sorry for myself

But the good news is I could train and not injure myself worse .. OK, that's also the bad news.  I've missed nearly 6 weeks of training to protect my knee and I could have been training the entire time.  I'm a bit pissed about that, but whatever.  Hindsight is what it is.

So what am I planning on doing??

More than likely I will choose the half marathon option.  I can walk at 3,4 mph and finish quick enough to earn my medal.  I honestly don't know if I can do it.  My knee will do fine for quite a while then become incredibly painful quickly and sometimes for no apparent reason, but I'd rather try and fall short then not try at all.

My long term plans include a lot more cycling and swimming.  I will likely take my chances and run another marathon in the future with a more gradual training format ... we'll see.

So it doesn't get much worse than that ... right?

Well, as Pam and I were walking through the mall to get our minds off the events of the day I started having another harsh yet so familiar pain ... Yep ... You guessed it ... It feels like I'm having another kidney stone.  Crap.  I'm not going to the ER for this ... just drinking a gallon or so of water and hope it's gone by morning

A picture story

Once there lived a great warrior who fought to protect her castle from intruders.  Many tried to invade her kingdom.  All failed.  

Most were chased away with a scar as a reminder of their failed efforts.  Some fought back and suffered a most unpleasant death.  A rare few were captured for the warrior's enjoyment and eventual presentation to the royal family.

One day the warrior captured an intruder and brought it to the castle door for presentation to her master.


Fearful of an uncertain fate the prisoner attempted to flee, but there was no escaping the keen eye of the warrior ... nor was there escape from savage wrath.     

In the blink of an eye the fierce protector sprang forward and once again subdued her captive.  The prisoner put up little resistance. 








The prince heard the victory call and came to the castle door.  He thanked the mighty warrior for her loyal service and rewarded her generously.

In an unexpected display of mercy the prince escorted the invader to the border of the kingdom and set him free.  The prisoner was grateful and vowed to patrol the outskirts of the kingdom.








Outraged by the earlier defiance and disrespect the mighty warrior chased the through the walls of the kingdom as a reminder of who is in charge of protecting the castle.

What does this have to do with training?  Absolutely nothing, but then again I have nothing to say.


My MRI is Saturday - probably too little too late, but we'll see.  My left knee does feel better so I don't think I did anything to it last week.  My right knee on the other hand is going to drive me nuts.  I can go the majority of a day with virtually no pain but I stop by Costco and while walking slowly across a level, flat, smooth surface and it starts hurting again.


I'm getting that sinking feeling ... Something is wrong, I just don't know what.  It's like the light at the end of the tunnel was shining on a dead end sign.

Just call me stupid

No, seriously ... I'm stupid.

But before I get into the details on why I would think such a thing I want to explain why I didn't do a run or a walk today ... in fact, the thought of training didn't even enter my mind ... until about a minute ago when I started typing my update.

I would explain why I didn't train, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words ...

 

My nephew Kyle got married today!!

OK ... Back to being stupid.

Thursday afternoon, after a long day at work, Pam decided to drag me to the beach for some relaxation.  Since I've rediscovered photography as a creative outlet for my stress (or at least for a fraction of my stress) I decided to take a few pictures while we were there.  Next thing I knew I was jumping amongst the rocks trying to get the perfect shot.

Yep ... that was stupid.  But in actuality my knee was feeling pretty good at the time.  Even when I jumped off the off the rocks it didn't hurt much more than it has recently.  Unfortunately the combination of rock jumping, walking across the sand and trying to outrun the incoming tide made my knee worse by that evening ... and then the next morning my left knee was a bit stiff and sore, but not to the degree that my right knee ever was.

The way I figure it is this might just be a good thing.  Since I'm already getting an MRI, and as far as I know they won't split me in half to get just the right knee, if there is an issue they'll discover it when they look at the MRI.  That may be stupid logic, but it is the best I can do at the time.

I can still walk, even walk fast for extended periods.  I can run short distances before my knee starts to hurt, but I can't possibly know that because I've been given orders not to run at all.  I am going to finish this marathon and earn my finishers medal and my beer no matter what.

By the way ... If I never post to this blog again it is because Pam has hung me upside-down and tortured me.  It seems her recollection of why we went to the beach may be a tad bit different than the version I posted here.

Oh, I almost forgot!  I saw the first hummingbird hanging around the hummingbird feeder when we got home this evening!!  Hopefully soon I'll be posting pics of the little things ... That is if Pam doesn't read this and take her revenge, that is.

Well ... I know what it isn't

My knee x-ray was good - no problems with the bones in the area.  I kind-a figured that I didn't fracture anything, but we have to rule things out to figure out what it is.

The next step is an MRI.  I'd do the happy dance, but ... well ... I am a bit claustrophobic and the thought of being squeezed into a tiny tube doesn't thrill me.  And I can't dance.  Oh well.

If the last set of referrals and approvals is an example of my insurance then I should get my MRI sometime before the end of the world in 2012.

*Sigh*

Until then I'm not supposed to run.  I can walk as much as I want and I got permission to go back to spin class so I won't lose what little progress I made over the past months, but no running.

It's time for the update

that at least I was waiting for.

Paula and Julie - Thank you for the comments.  I definitely think the description of a young, athletic person is much more accurate than the article I read ... of course the article I read said it tends to bother teenage girls.

I've done pretty good at the icing - at least twice every day if not three times.  I took the mega doses of ibuprofen.  I resisted the urge to run.  I stayed away from spin class.  And I felt so edgy and miserable it wasn't funny.

Now here's where I'm supposed to say, "My knee feel so much better.  I plan on going for a long run tomorrow."  But I can't.  There really hasn't been much of a change - at least nothing really tangible.  The doctor ordered x-rays today and I have to wait until Thursday to find out what they

I do want to know why it is that I told the x-ray techs that my knee was hurting and the first thing they did was make me twist my knee in the most awkward position ... Did they not believe me that it hurt? ... Does the x-ray see the pain? ... Oh well.

I don't plan on letting the results stop me from finishing my first marathon, it is just a matter of how much running I will be doing during the event.  The only thing that will stop me from attempting the marathon is the doctor telling me that I may cause serious damage if I try to do that distance ... Only time will tell.

So does this mean I'm a runner?

So it's been a week and my knee still hurts ... shit!

I can walk without discomfort, but even walking for an extended period I feel like something in  my knee is rubbing.  Standing up, sitting down, going up stairs or up a hill and going down stairs or down a hill cause pain :-(

I went to the doctor today and he either told me to get a condo in Malaysia or that I had chondromalacia.  I remember hearing the term from David on the old T.com site and had a basic idea of what it was.  The doctor gave a really good explanation and filled in the blanks in my memory ... then he told me I should be icing it ... shit, I hate icing ... then he told me no running for at least a week, but I'm supposed to keep walking.

I looked up chondromalacia when I got home to fill my head with more useless information and on a couple of sites they call it "Runner's Knee."  So does this mean I'm a runner?

So how do I balance ...

... the desire to train and improve despite the occasional discomfort associated with endurance training and the concern, or sometimes plain paranoia of injuring myself?

I remember David constantly saying, "Pain = bad."

My head knows that there will be an expected soreness ... My self competitiveness wants me to push despite the discomfort, after all it will go away won't it?  My fear or imagination kicks in and says, "Remember a few years ago?  You thought that would go away and you wound up on the bench for almost a year..."

So again I ask, how do I balance all this?

Today on what was supposed to be the longest run to date, Andrea and I were using a much slower paced strategy - ensuring we walked as much as possible up the hills, controlling our pace down the hills and making sure we used our walk breaks early in the run to ensure we still had energy at the end of the run. 

Problem 1 - I was wheezing all over the place again!  Why?!?!  My sinuses were clear, it wasn't too hot, there wasn't a nasty headwind ... why do I keep wheezing early in the runs?  This lasted for nearly 8k before it finally started to ease up.  It's really starting to drive me nuts.

Problem 2 - Somewhere around 10k I felt something in my right knee.  Not like a horrible pain, but something different than I'm used to.  We slowed to a walk, but that didn't seem to relieve the sensation ... then it got a little more tender.  Again, not what I would call bad pain, but it did hurt.  After a short rest we started to walk - it did alright.  We even managed to get in a few run segments and it wasn't too bad, but under greater stress of going up a very slight incline it hurt more.  We chose to break off the run at 12.75k

My paranoia won today.

There does seem to be a bit of pain during transitions from one activity to another ... from sitting to standing I can feel it, but once I'm up it's alright.  From standing to walking, the first couple steps twinge a bit but then subside.  From standing to sitting there is another twinge.

It's almost like there is one spot slightly to the medial aspect on the bottom of the patella that twinges.  If I could curl one finger just under the kneecap at about the 4:30 position (if you were looking at my knee from the front ... and I was wearing shorts ... and if this were the case I'd suggest you wear sunglasses because my legs are something beyond white) ... anyway, if I could do that I could touch the one spot that hurts.

Now at this point I'm desperately hoping somebody with medical knowledge steps forward and says, "It's nothing to worry about.  Just take some advil and you'll be alright."

And for the record I don't want to hear, "Get to the doctor."  "You better get it checked."  "Uh-oh, that could be bad." or anything else that implies that there may actually be a problem.

We'll see how it feels tomorrow :-(

Answering some questions:

Jen - As I've said many times, understanding what the problems are and knowing what to do about them are two completely different things.

This last week was basically a recovery week - a couple of run / walks but nothing major.  This was not completely by choice - I had yet another week of chasing my tail trying desperately to go back in time and find as much information on events that happened anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days earlier and my drivers chose not to report them.  This included an obligatory drive around the county looking for more mystery objects that seem to cause damage to our buses when nobody is looking.  At this point I would be content with a week that only had 3 Mondays in it.

Yesterday's run was postponed because both Andrea and I were not feeling great.  Today we did a 15k and experimented with slightly different run / walk strategies.  Part of the change in strategy was due to another bout of unusual wheezing - the wheezing was due to smoke in the air from a nearby orchard or field burning vegetation.  This wonderful strategy ... Walk more up the hill so my breathing wouldn't be as labored under the more stressful parts of the run.  The result ... the 15k took 4 minutes longer than our best 15k a couple weeks ago.  I had more energy and had faster run segments during the second half of the run despite the wheezing issue.

Heart rate, sinuses and hydration were not an issue this week, but it was much cooler, a shorter run and i less horrible hill.  Next week will be yet another longer run, but there will only be one hill to deal with.

As far as the question of what will I do if? ...

The odds of all those same factors happening again on race day or something less than slim ... especially the eating something horribly stupid the night before the run.  However, if everything does go wrong I only have 2 choices - quit or try to finish.

Hydration is honestly my biggest concern.  I sweat a lot - much more than normal people seem to and I always walk the fine line between water-logging myself and not drinking enough to function well.  Being aware of how I feel and what my body is saying - taking the time at the water stations and so forth are the obvious solutions to this issue.

My sinuses are always a crap-shoot ... OK ... that sounds wrong :-/  Anyway, I always have some sinus issue going on so minimizing the potential impact is something I'm pretty used to.  The wheezing on the other hand ... well ... if it continues to be a worsening problem I might have to visit my doctor one last time before June :-/

All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing.  Prepare the best that I can and do the best that I can on the big day.

I guess ...

... from a scientific perspective Saturday's run was a success


Training Stats:

Thu - 50 min elliptical and 10 min treadmill cool down
Fri - Chasing hawk friend 3o min (see pics below)
Sat - Run / walk, half marathon distance :-/

Unfortunately I am not a scientist, so yesterday's run pretty much sucked.  I just can't get myself to say, "Even though I didn't get the results I wanted or expected I learned something so I can say it was successful."

My heart rate began to race shortly after we headed up the first hill.  There was a pretty substantial headwind, and my heart rate and breathing both suffer under those circumstances ... Whatever.  My legs went absolutely rubbery around the 13k mark while heading up hill #3 and never really recovered.  But really the worst dagger to my pride was we ended our run less than 1k short of the goal distance (our own personal sag wagon picked us sp, burritos from the local market waiting for us) and we were nearly 30 min slower than what I was hoping for, even though we hit the first 3.5k faster than any other week :-(

In hind sight there were some positive results from the debacle.  Despite the fact that we walked more than half the total distance and up every hill (and down 1) we stayed ahead of pace until after the halfway point.  Even though my legs felt wiped out I was able to keep a relatively brisk walking pace.  And maybe the most encouraging point was my legs recovered very quickly.  After my recovery burrito and a nap I felt pretty darn good.  In fact my legs feel better today than they did at the beginning of the run yesterday.

I guess what still bugs me is not knowing for sure why it happened.  Maybe I was just too amped up for the distance ... Or possibly the events of a long and arduous week at work finally caught up with me. 

I may have been on the verge of dehydration.  I know when Pam picked us up I couldn't get enough water fast enough, and once I got some water in me I started feeling better.  Probably having sushi for dinner and the obligatory 2.3 gallons of soy soy sauce that go with it for dinner Friday was probably not a good idea. 

In my hazy recollection of the not quite awake minutes after I got out of bed I may have taken a Sudafed.  Our grass was cut Friday, and that made my sinuses go funky, so I may have habitually taken one just because I was still feeling the residual allergy effects.  It also seems like every other house and half the parks and schools either had a lawn mower running or smelled like freshly cut grass.  These issues would explain the runaway pulse and the extra wheezing.

I worked harder during the week than I have in a long time.  Every day my legs were tired from some form of training.  I also had some trouble sleeping several nights this week - I figure it was due to the worse than average drama at work and swirling around Pam and her mom.  All these factors could account for the unusual tiredness and the rubbery legs.

Whatever the reason or combination of reasons I consider the run something just slightly better than a failure.  I am not looking for, nor would I be content with saying, "If it weren't for ..." (fill in the blank) I would have done great.  I need to be able to push through despite adversities.  If any, or all of these factors pop up on the big day I need to be able to function properly. 

At least I did not give up at 13k when things got really rough.  I walked, but I didn't quit ... that is a bright point in what was a really disappointing run.