Second Best Thing to a Run

THE RUNNING STORE!

If you can't running, go talk to people about running.

In my quest to simultaneously control AND distract myself from my recent conundrum and quasi-rest, what better field trip than the Big Peach Running Store? These people are phenomenal. John and I went in, me carrying my limp, 215-mile broken Nimbus's and a pathetic look on my face. She immediately knew how to help.

We went through a battery of questions, walking, trotting on the treadmill (good news: no knee pain, though the running without a sports bra and using my hands instead was comedic...but apparently pretty common). I even got to go on the special scale that tells where your weight is on your feet - and boy is my body protecting that left side. Check out the foot scans they printed for me! The one at left is barefoot, the one at right is standing on my orthotics....goes to show what orthotics do to even out your weight and impact for the foot.

After a Saucony and a Brooks (purple! damn!) candidate were rejected, I went back to the Asics. The short story is that I am textbook stick straight on the right side, no pronation (rolling at the ankle) whatsoever, and a little pronation on the left. I run in a cushioned ride, with neutral stability...and agreed with her comment that too much stability would throw off my OTHER leg. I have been there too, before (circa 2001, thanyouverymuch).

So after about an hour of this fun, including a new sock purchase (total ruse, they had clean ones to try on with), I got into a discussion about my leaky nubbins. For my Fuel Belt...they always leak or come out completely. I was eyeing a pack of green replacement nubbins, and commented too bad they didn't have a multicolor pack, and my new friend the manager of the store dug behind the counter and gave me as a get well present (I kid you not!) FOUR count them FOUR nubbins of my choosing. I got one of each :).

I think there's something to be said for nice people who make you feel better when you're down. Hats off to Big Peach!

The Wheels on the Bus Go...clang clANG CLANG

It was bound to happen, eventually.

Ideally, it would have been oh, I don't know...back in December or so. But two weeks out from the Shamrock Half Marathon is a fine time, according to fate.

After taking an easy recovery week from the 10k, you know, just to be safe, I was ready to try for a 2:10 run on Saturday. I knew it would be difficult, so planned on starting WITH Tilley then dealing with the aftermath on the second leg. I planned to do about 6 miles with her, then see how far I could get after that.

Twas not to be.

We headed out to run out Riverside and not a measley 29 minutes in, it began. That recently-all-too-familiar feeling of a large freshwater barracuda hook wrapping in - around - and through the outside of my left knee. Or perhaps the barracuda's teeth themselves. Ever optimistic, I told myself that this was just from my time off and that a good warmup and a few stretches would solve this, as it mostly had in the past.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

After a stretch at :30...at :40....at :50...I knew I would have to hang it up. I decided to end the run through the woods on Riverside at an hour on the nose....and 1.75 miles from home. After a consultation call with Jome and Rich, and then with John, I opted to walk home to "stretch it out"...I felt marginally better (physically, not emotionally)...and then started walking up the hill to the apartment.

Holyshit.

I could barely walk up the incline....having my left leg at a 10-20 degree angle was almost too much to bear. About ten minutes later (normally a 3 minute walk, tops), I was gimping up the stairs and gave John the full rundown.

After a brief exam and a ton of questions, he told me it's a condition that basically has the overdeveloped muscles of my outside and back of the leg competing with my wimpy inner muscles in the fight to control my kneecap. In this corner, the Abductors! Heavily trained, they are the favorite. In this corner, the Adductors! (hissing from the crowd) The gritty underdogs of the leg...once strong from years of horseback riding...now? Not so much.

As predicted, the Abductors are winning and my patella scoots unnaturaly to the outside. You know, about 1200 fricking times per mile. So for Saturday's lovely route by the nice trout fishermen and the bikers, for example, that's 36,632 times where my femur and patella got jiggy....at my expense. And let's not let our old friend the IT band off the hook...responsibility also goes up the line from my knee along the IT band allllllll the way to my Pal, Piriformis...which is oft to sit like a hard, bitter crabapple inside my glutes. You know the drill, piriformis tightens, IT band draws up, abductors pull, adductors can't resist, patella slides over. That old chestnut.

So where does that leave me?

I spent a day in the mental shitter - realizing this may botch my plans to go race with JoMarie and Amelia. I got deeper by realizing that the plan to do an Olympic Tri in a matter of 7 weeks is a stretch. But then I stopped the mental panic and thought, enough. Let's give it a week and see what the outcome is...the good news is with rest, ice, and some strengthening work this is fixable.

Let's just hope it's in time.