I saw the orthopedist the first week of May and got the bad news: The problem in my left knee is arthritis. He could show it to me on the X-Ray, although you have to look pretty hard to see it. I've known there was some in there since getting my first knee operation 10 years ago, but until recently it hasn't been a problem. Apparently it became a problem last October when I started to feel it in that knee. I knew at the time that what I was feeling in there wasn't the same as the problems I'd had before (meniscus problems).
There was some good news though: When I got home I stepped on the scale for the first time in many months: 205 pounds! That was a bit of a shock as I would have guessed I was about 195. But that's probably how it always goes when the scale has been avoided for a while. Wishful thinking sets in.
How is being heavy good news? It means I might be able to mitigate the arthritis with weight loss. Even at 205 pounds I could run several miles without the knee becoming much of a problem. At the Star Wars Half it was only at mile 4 to 5 that I really started to feel it.
My weight when in prime marathon running shape is 180 or below. I've been as low as 172 in the past few years. So that gives me a good 30 lbs I could lose, which translates to much less pressure on that left knee. There would be nothing to do if I came home from the doctor and the scale said 180.
The plan for now is to leave off the running until I drop some weight (10 lbs or more), and hit the elliptical and the recumbent bike in the meantime, which feel fine on the knee. Then, assuming that helps, I will mix in a lot more cross-training with the running than I have in the past.
