With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

well, this sucked for running.  Knee is not pleased with me.  I am not pleased with Knee.

We seem to be at odds over the proper amount of running and rest that is necessary.

Sleepless night worried about the marathon.  If I have to, can I walk it in enough time to not get kicked off the course?  Should I just try the 1/2 instead?  Or should I can it all and just wear my cheerleading pirate gear?????

2 weeks isn't far away.  Still have the MRI planned on Wednesday.  Hope to have more info by the end of the week.  "Sigh."

New race goal may be: All Fun, Not so much Run.

1 hour elliptical good workout - no knee troubles

tried the Pilates on the Ball video.  So sorry you all missed the most amusing morning of my life.  At one point, the ball flew out from between my legs and went hurling across the the room until it smacked into the front door.  Oh dear pooh.

knee still hurts trying to go up & down stairs here at work. Guess I'm going to keep letting it rest while I ice/medicate it.

strengthening

mri tonight

1 hour elliptical.  Finished reading the book Family Wisdom From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma.  It's a good book with lots of great positive life building ideas- now if I can just put those ideas into actions. 

Here's one of the thoughts from the book that stuck out to me today, and of course I immediately thought of running: The people who really get on in this world and live big lives-personally, professionally, or spiritually- are those who are never satisfied with themselves.  They are constatnly pushing the envelope of their potential and growing stronger, wiser and more effective.   Not to say that we shouldn't love ourselves, but we shouldn't fall into the trap of complacency.

I see that desire to keep improving and move forward in so many of you bloggers.  Y'all really inspire me.  Thanks :-)

1 hour elliptical & MAT pilates.  No desire to get back up on that ball any time soon!

NO pain in knee going up & down stairs.  Want to run tomorrow, but think maybe just holding off on running till next weekend.  Let more healing continue & keep working on strengthening. 

Appt w/Dr on Mon to find out results of MRI.  Sure hope this Dr knows what they're doing.  I just hate it when they say "just quit running & try walking."  I want to tell them, "just chew on vitamins instead of eating real food."  Not very satisfying, is it? 

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH.

Saw a funny comedy show tonight called 3 Married Guys.  Good, Clean humor about married life.  Really needed to laugh- what a relief :-)

23 miles on the bike.  7.5 hard effort, 8 easy while Wyatt ran, 7.5 extra hard riding straight into a head wind the whole way home. 

Went to bed at 5:30 last night.  It is wonderful to finally feel rested!!!

1 hour on the elliptical, then shred level 1 followed by strengthening exercises.

no problems with the knee until I was doing the jump rope & butt kicks.  Sucks.

MRI follow up with Dr today.  Looking forward to good news.  or any news

****************************************

Correction:  maybe I was to just looking forward to good news. As is, I got too much news & not sure what to think of any of it.  I just want to run.  7-10 more days for referrals to go through, then waiting for 1st available appointments after that.  No end in sight. 

Here's the laundry list of things that are wrong with my knee: 1) horizontal tear involving the superior aspect of the free margin of the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus. 2) moderate intrinsic mucoid degenerative signal abnormality of the posterior medial meniscus 3) mild splaying of the tibial attachment of the anterior cruciate ligament consistent with minimal mild ACL partial tear/sprain 4) 4-7mm intercondylar notch cystic fluid collection (Baker's cyst) and a 2 cm Baker's cyst.  5) moderate intensity 2cm bone bruising of the inferior patella. 6) mild proximal patellar tendinosis. 7) mild irregularity of the patellar cartliage.

Not much of that makes sense to me.  PT and Orthopedics referrals in. 7-10 days for insurance co to put referrals through, then I can call & make appointments.  This is going to be a long road.

Long run looms large on Sunday.  Don't want to throw in the towel, but not sure any other option is a really good one at this point.

No-vember must be latin for No-running :-(

45 min elliptical and mat pilates followed by my strengthening exercises from last time I was at physical therapy. 

Trying to think of good workout things to do that don't involve running.  It's dark so early that pm bike rides are probably going to be KO'd.  Maybe I should fit some lights on the bike?

Anyone know how to put "crosstraining" info on the blog to read up top?

90 minutes on the elliptical.  Wondering if walking a marathon or 1/2 marathon would bother my knee.  It doesn't hurt when I walk....

yardwork

housework

meh

20 min on elliptical.

strengthening

PT appointment on Tuesday!  Woo-hoo!!!

I had the most incredible day watching Wyatt and RAD and Katie run the Outer Banks Marathon today. Terri & I ran it last year, but because of my injury (and cold) I wasn't able to run it this year. Terri was an awesome running buddy and dropped out to hang with me & keep my spirits up while I cheered on the lucky runners.

We watched them take off at the start line, then went for donuts & hot cocoa before we met them just after mile 8. Then we chased them along the race route and waited for them when we could & screamed out the car window when we couldn't.

We got stuck in traffic, and they actually finished the course before we did! I was disappointed that we missed their grand finish, but we saw them just after at the finish line. Wyatt did wonderful on her 1st marathon.

We had a great week-end at the beach. Saw the sunset from the top of the Currituck Lighthouse- very memorable.

I fell in love with little Fartlek "D." He really is a farter!! He's working on being a real "man."

I've been so sick all week.  No energy- full of phlegm.

Working on my physical therapy exercises takes all my energy.

Got my knee taped last night.  It feels great.  Hope I get over this rotten cold soon so I can enjoy a pain-free knee & get back on the elliptical & bike.

More of nothing..

45 min on elliptical and PT.  I'm doing the exercises for PT on both legs, so it takes twice as long, but I figure it's better to do both, even though the left is the weaker one.

Hoping for a good PT tonight & tomorrow.  I'd love to get permission to run a little over the holiday week.

after .5 mile warm up, the 2 miles were great & felt good.  Ran really slow, just like the PT told me to- better slow than not at all.

2 miles on the treadmill at the hotel.  Aaarrrrggggghhhhh.  Not a treadmill fan. 

Kept it slow- 10:20 to 10:30.  After warming up, things feel good.  The tape on my knees really seems to work :-)

woke up & did 30 min on the bike & 30 min on elliptical.

Then spent the rest of the am on the beach in Daytona, soaking up the sun & playing in the water.  Waaayyyyy better than standing in the kitchen all day cooking food that doesn't ever turn out right. 

Went for a "jog" around noon.  3 miles total, slow pace.  felt good.  Wished I was cleared to run more.

Had a delicious Havana sandwich for dinner.  With sweet potato fries :-) delicious.  No dishes, no work - no problem!! 

Saw Harry Potter & had Cold Stone for dessert.  That is something to be thankful for, all right.

when I got up, the tape on my knee was pretty much all peeling off.  I left on what I could, but most of it was gone.  So I wore my knee band & did a very slow 3 miles, with stopping in between to take photos.

I ran on the beach as the sun rose over the water.  It was cloudy, but still spectacular. 

The knee just didn't feel as good without the tape on.  No sharp pains, but ached more.

A couple hours later, we climbed the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse.  Beautiful view.  Then, after climbing up all 200 stairs, I realized going down the stairs hurt like crazy.  My knee couldn't stand the down.  I had to grab onto the handrails and walk down each step sideways to keep the pain from flaring up.

So that sucked.  A lot. 

We had 7-11 chili cheese dogs for lunch & drove home.  Hope one day my little buccaneer gets a pilot's license and can fly to me to the beach for all my holiday visits, and then I won't have the dreaded long ride home in the car. 

All in all, a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday vacation.  And not one turkey lost it's life to me :-)

20 minute quick morning elliptical visit.

All the tape is gone from my knee.  My knee hurts still when I go down stairs or bend down on it.  I decided to take a good bike ride, so I went out for 10.5 miles and then came back & tried a little jog.

I still had to walk for a warm up & I wore my knee band.  After .5 miles, I was able to run, but only very, very slowly.  If I tried to speed up, I could feel my knee scream at me. 

Knee is still sore, and I'm just going to rest it & hope things go well at PT on Monday.  I did my PT exercises, and went on a 9.5 mile bike ride.  Great ride going out- headwind the whole way back.  At one point, I was pedaling, but the wind was so strong I wasn't sure I was actually moving forward. 

Good bike ride.

It was cold out this morning, so I decided to do elliptical in the am and go for a run after PT in the evening when I'd have some new tape on my knee.  The tape really seems to help.  It's not going to fix the problem, but it lets me do what I love (hopefully while the problem is healing).

Hurried to PT after work, and left totally disappointed.  They said based on what I'd told them about the running & the painful down-the-stairs movement, they wanted to wait for further treatment until they'd heard what the orthopedic dr said.

Well, I still haven't heard back from the referral.  I made some phone calls after I got home, and I guess, according to the insurance people, the referral was "lost."  So I have to start over again at where I was Nov 8th with that.  The PT didn't tape my knee, didn't really do anything but talk to me.  Not their fault about the referral being lost- it just sucks that I'm not any further ahead than I was 3 weeks ago.

I do like to whine, but don't feel like I'm usually someone who feels sorry for myself.  But tonight, I'm going to feel sorry for myself, let the tears go & wallow. 

Tomorrow, I'm calling and getting the referral put back in the system.  I'm going to try & be nice and pleasant to the nit-wits on the phone who "lost" it to begin with.  They'd already gone home for the day by the time I figured out what had happened today.  Bless their little hearts.

I'll wear my new, light weight shoes tomorrow too- just in case I end up putting my foot in my mouth.  Fillet of Sole is always a tasty dish...especially when served with humble pie.

20 or 30 minutes on elliptical.  can't remember & not sure it matters.

Physical therapy strengthening exercises.