Sunday, April 25, 2010

I'm Digital!

Just in case you still have refused to go out and pay a few bucks to buy the magazine, it appears that the April issue of Men's Health is online now.

Check it out!

Belly Off!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Countdown!

9 days until the Illinois Half Marathon!!! Knee issues, chance for rain, lack of training over the past few weeks....no excuses!! This could be an interesting race folks!!

C U THERE!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Suck it Up and DRIVE ON

Today I reached a milestone in the p0st-cortisone knee recovery period. It's down to the wire on the Illinois half marathon training, so today was a pretty critical training day. I tried to run on Thursday, but made it to 5 miles and the knee had enough. I took Friday and Saturday off, icing and Aleve'ing. Today was the day. I decided I was just going to run until I couldn't handle the pain.

I picked a fairly flat route and set out to build my confidence for 1 MAY. I did the first 3 or so and felt decent, so I decided just to do the same loop again. By the time I reached the 6 mile mark the knee was definitely barking....but, I felt like I could endure the pain for a bit more. So....I drove on. Mile 7....feel the burn, suck it up.....mile 8....wanna quit, suck it up.....mile 9....good to go. 9 miles today....I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't easy and it certainly wasn't painfree. It wasn't fast either, but I learned a very valuable lesson. I can do 13.1....it's going to be painful and it's not going to be at PR pace. But, I can do it. You know what though?....it's NEVER been easy. I don't expect that to change. My knee hurts like a sunuva-you know what, but I'm not about to quit....even if I have to crawl across that damn finish line. Yeah, that's how I roll. :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Kneed a New Posting

Dear loyal bloggies, I sincerely apologize for the delay in my postings. I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting the next update from Running on Ginnis. I haven't posted much because quite frankly....I haven't had much to post about. I've had a few good runs over the past several weeks, but not nearly as many as I would have liked.



But for good reason....for around two months I've been dealing with some soreness in my knee. Well, about 2.5 weeks ago I did a nice 10 miler (in the rain) and I had to negotiate a significant obstacle.....a huge ass hill!! Seriously, it had to be around a 1/2 mile. After negotiating the hilly obstacle, I felt fine. But once I reached my FOB (forward operating base....aka home) I immediately began to feel pain...not soreness, but pain, in my right knee...which lasted for a few days.



I tried to get a few runs in afterwards, but the knee just wasn't having it. My mileage has been extremely low and with the Illinois Half coming up in less than 3 weeks, I knew I kneeded to take action.



I took a trip into a sports medicine office today and had some xrays taken. Good news: nothing is structurally wrong with my knee!! Bad news: lots of inflammation and fluid. So, the doc laid out my options: 1. lay off the running for even longer, continue to take Ibuprofen, and gradually work my way back to higher mileage 2. Get a cortisone shot and possibly be ready to go in two weeks or less. I told the doc that I don't do well with gradual and slow healing....and then said I was leaning towards the cortisone.



I asked him if the shot hurt, he said yep. I said, let's do it doc. Yeah, cuz that's how I roll. (note: please do not validate this story with the doctor....due to doctor-patient confidentiality reasons, of course). Sooo....after the doc provided me with SEVERAL warnings about the EXTREME pain, I decided that it was time to drive on anyway. He pulled out a needle, which appeared to be a good 3-4 feet in length, and poked me with the good stuff right in the sore spot.



The doc said some people begin to notice improvement within a day or two and some people feel it after about two weeks. I have no time to waste, so I'm hoping I begin to feel the results soon.



See said knee below. WARNING: Due to the graphic nature of this picture, I strongly urge you to restrict viewing by minors and non-runners.