This May, I will be hopefully completing my second ultra marathon. This particular race, at 89 K of hilly roads, is dubbed, "the ultimate human race." When a friend of mine who ran it last year heard I was thinknig about signing up, he put me in touch with a South African man who lives near by who has completed it about 20 times.
His name is Mike and I do whatever he tells me. If he's run it 20 times, he must know a thing or two in addition to being obviously crazy.
He also convinced me to join him for a race in South Africa known as the Kosmos 3-in-1. The idea is to run a marathon in the morning, a half marathon at 1 pm and a 10 k in the evening, totaling 73 K (16 less than the Comrades). Plus it gives your body an idea of what it feels like to be vertical and in motion all day.
I signed up, and a week before the big day, something funky at the back of my knee started snapping like a rubberband. Yesterday was my fourth day in a row of giving up midway on a run and hobbling home. Yesterday, I shut the blinds, threw my skirt on the couch, squeezed into a knee support, donned my new sneakers and ran around my livingroom. I convinced myself I was healed, ate a chocolate bar and called it a night.
Then at 5:10 this morning, the rubberband started snapping one kilometer down the road. Have I ever mentioned that running may be the only thing that keeps me sane in the kingdom in the sky? It is.
The 3-in-one is three days away, so I emailed Mike in a panic saying I don't think I can run. His reply: "It is probably an over use injury as you body is adjusting to higher milage. I am also currently injured and Lisa got some "Ice Man" a healing gel used in Horses. I have applied this week with remarkable results." Within an hour, I had the horse meds delivered to my work with "We'll pick up for the race Friday morning. How is pasta for dinner that night?"
I should be outside doing PE with a group of 3-6 year olds but I'm supposed to rest for a couple days. So I'm sitting barefoot at my computer, an ice pack tied to me with a scrap of Mozambican fabric, smelling like a medicated horse.
**Note, if you have any knee-related expertise and advice, please share, but my cranky brain cannot handle a lecture right now.
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4 comments:
I'm sorry you are in so much pain. I looked up some stuff on the internet and couldn't find anything. Maybe email Aunt Heidi? Hang in there, RICE, you know the drill.
I'm an orthopedic surgeon, does that count? It's likely to be one of two things.
1. Torn meniscal fragment - treatment: arthroscopic removal
2. Chondral injury/chondromalacia - treatment:rest. damage is often permanent and leads to arthritis.
Why now? muscles get stronger quickly, but ligaments and cartilage are much slower growing tissues, and lag behind muscle development by 6 months to 1 1/2 years. They do not have an infinite capacity to respond to stress, and so eventually breakdown before ultimate muscle strenght is attained. if you have access to MRI, you can have a difinitive diagnosis.
Did I mention that I used to run 4-8 miles per day on weekdays, and 10-15 miles per day on weekends? Just so you know that I do have some perspective, and sympathy, for the situation.
Yes, I believe orthopedic surgeon would count.
Torn meniscal fragment and chondomalacia sound painful, as do arthroscopic removal and arthritis.
And my knee doesn't even hurt today, although my foot now aches. Maybe it's sympathy pains, maybe I'm a hypochondriac.
I'm sure there is an MRI somewhere in SA a few hours away. You know, South Africans really like to cut people open. Almost as much as they like to prescribe tons of pills.
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