Bozeman, here we come!

On the eve of our second trip to Bozeman this year, I feel compelled to write about my knee, because I'll be asking a lot of it in the mountains come this weekend. In many ways, my knee is worlds better than it was in July, when we were first in Bozeman hiking/running in the area. In other ways, it feels just about the same. I'm still unable to string together more than several minutes of running, which is just about equally as frustrating as not being able to run at all. Lately, I've been mixing in running with hiking/walking. It's certainly better than doing nothing, but I've been saying that for far too long now.

The good news is that I was able to run pain-free for a total of 25 minutes on Sunday. I hadn't done that since May. The key, I've learned, is to keep the leg loose. Sitting at a computer all day long doesn't help matters, but once I get up and moving, the leg loosens up and things start to feel functional again. The tightness felt after having sat for 3 straight hours is quite discouraging, but I hope that a few trips to the chiropractor will help that. And maybe a new, non-desk job, too!

A few days ago, a colleague noticed that I was limping. I always notice that I'm limping, but sometimes it's not as apparent to other times. Concerned, he asked: "Your knees are already failing you at your age?" He was half-joking, but part of me wanted to go into how my knee is perfectly fine--just not quite ready for high-volume running again.

This is one of those injuries that wasn't directly caused by running. In other words, it wasn't the act of running that caused the injury. What caused the injury (ligament laxity), we think, was an old sprained knee that didn't fully heal. When it should have been healing, I was in the midst of hard training for a breakthrough marathon. My training had gone so well up to that point that abandoning it was out of the question. Eventually, the pain went away, but full ligament strength was not restored, due to the continuous trauma of hard training

Ever since Austin in February, I've been struggling with this injury. It's been hard. I've had many a meltdown. Just ask Jess! But I'm confident that things will only continue to improve.