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.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Sunday, April 29, 2018
This Week in Running 4/29/18
Total Miles: 11
Wednesday: 40 min bike
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5
Wednesday: 40 min bike
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon
Ellen and I ran the Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon at Disney World on Sunday.
I was signed up for the "First Order Challenge" which includes a 10k on Saturday in addition to the Half Marathon, but given the injuries, I decided it was the better part of valor to skip the 10k. This turned out to be a good move, especially given all the time I spent on my feet at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. By race time I was just hoping to finish.
Ellen and I made a fine pair, me with my injuries and Ellen with a bad cold. We agreed to to walk through the water stops (at every mile) and any other time we felt necessary. We also ran a slow pace, over 11:00 miles.
Compared to Marathon Weekend, the Darkside Half has a cozy feel. The start is at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (as opposed to the Marathon Weekend races that start at Epcot). About 15,000 runners participated (compared to 20,000 for the Marathon Weekend races). The starting corrals are right there in the parking lot - no half mile walk to the start like at Marathon Weekend. There were giant screens set up showing snippets of Star Wars movies and the usual fireworks at the start.
Up to now I've only run the January races, so I hadn't experienced a race in Florida April weather. The start temp was the high 60's and it was very humid. Even without the injuries this would not have been a fast race. The most interesting feature of the race in the first four miles is running through a dark forested area with a simulated Ewok battle going on either side of the road. Disney placed simulated blaster flashes and flaming flash pods in the woods, along with loudspeakers blaring sounds of Ewoks in a big fight. It was actually pretty cool. Not much to take a picture of, though.
I noticed as the race went along that there was no part of the course that was bereft of something Star Wars related. Either Star Wars music could be heard or there was a giant screen with a Star Wars movie playing, or there were Star Wars characters available for pictures. The January Half and Full Marathons both have sections of the course where nothing is going on and, except that it is in Disney, you wouldn't know that you were in a Disney race. The Star Wars race is also entirely Star Wars themed - there are no non-Star Wars Disney characters out, or marching bands or other groups along the way like in January. I think they really made an attempt for a full out Star Wars immersion and succeeded pretty well at it.
The course takes you from the Magic Kingdom parking lot down to Animal Kingdom, then up to Hollywood Studios (no ESPN) and through EPCOT. Quite a bit of time is spent in Animal Kingdom, including running through the new Pandora Area. I got a picture with Obi Wan just after exiting AK:
About this time my knee started to hurt and I swallowed more ibuprofen - I had taken a couple just before the start of the race. It got gradually worse over the next two miles and I knew that if it continued that way I'd have to stop. My other injuries - strains in my right leg - were not that bad and I didn't think they would cause a problem. But the knee could be a showstopper.
Taking walk breaks at the water stops helped and, fortunately, the knee settled in to a manageable ache at around mile 8. By mile 10 I knew I was going to finish and my mood improved considerably.
Something I was pleasantly surprised about was that I didn't have any endurance issues towards the end of the race. My longest run since December has been 8 miles, and I only managed one of those a few weeks ago. Maybe that lack of training would manifest itself in some hard labor the last few miles, especially given the weather. By mile 10 it was near 80 degrees and still humid. But this was one place where things went my way - I had no endurance issues at all and, the injuries not withstanding, cruised easily to the finish.
So I managed to finish. As always, I find the Disney races a lot of fun - especially running with Ellen - even when I run them injured. I think it would have been a total blast to run the First Order Challenge healthy. Maybe some other time... in some galaxy far, far, away...
I was signed up for the "First Order Challenge" which includes a 10k on Saturday in addition to the Half Marathon, but given the injuries, I decided it was the better part of valor to skip the 10k. This turned out to be a good move, especially given all the time I spent on my feet at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. By race time I was just hoping to finish.
Ellen and I made a fine pair, me with my injuries and Ellen with a bad cold. We agreed to to walk through the water stops (at every mile) and any other time we felt necessary. We also ran a slow pace, over 11:00 miles.
Compared to Marathon Weekend, the Darkside Half has a cozy feel. The start is at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (as opposed to the Marathon Weekend races that start at Epcot). About 15,000 runners participated (compared to 20,000 for the Marathon Weekend races). The starting corrals are right there in the parking lot - no half mile walk to the start like at Marathon Weekend. There were giant screens set up showing snippets of Star Wars movies and the usual fireworks at the start.
Up to now I've only run the January races, so I hadn't experienced a race in Florida April weather. The start temp was the high 60's and it was very humid. Even without the injuries this would not have been a fast race. The most interesting feature of the race in the first four miles is running through a dark forested area with a simulated Ewok battle going on either side of the road. Disney placed simulated blaster flashes and flaming flash pods in the woods, along with loudspeakers blaring sounds of Ewoks in a big fight. It was actually pretty cool. Not much to take a picture of, though.
I noticed as the race went along that there was no part of the course that was bereft of something Star Wars related. Either Star Wars music could be heard or there was a giant screen with a Star Wars movie playing, or there were Star Wars characters available for pictures. The January Half and Full Marathons both have sections of the course where nothing is going on and, except that it is in Disney, you wouldn't know that you were in a Disney race. The Star Wars race is also entirely Star Wars themed - there are no non-Star Wars Disney characters out, or marching bands or other groups along the way like in January. I think they really made an attempt for a full out Star Wars immersion and succeeded pretty well at it.
The course takes you from the Magic Kingdom parking lot down to Animal Kingdom, then up to Hollywood Studios (no ESPN) and through EPCOT. Quite a bit of time is spent in Animal Kingdom, including running through the new Pandora Area. I got a picture with Obi Wan just after exiting AK:
About this time my knee started to hurt and I swallowed more ibuprofen - I had taken a couple just before the start of the race. It got gradually worse over the next two miles and I knew that if it continued that way I'd have to stop. My other injuries - strains in my right leg - were not that bad and I didn't think they would cause a problem. But the knee could be a showstopper.
Taking walk breaks at the water stops helped and, fortunately, the knee settled in to a manageable ache at around mile 8. By mile 10 I knew I was going to finish and my mood improved considerably.
Something I was pleasantly surprised about was that I didn't have any endurance issues towards the end of the race. My longest run since December has been 8 miles, and I only managed one of those a few weeks ago. Maybe that lack of training would manifest itself in some hard labor the last few miles, especially given the weather. By mile 10 it was near 80 degrees and still humid. But this was one place where things went my way - I had no endurance issues at all and, the injuries not withstanding, cruised easily to the finish.
So I managed to finish. As always, I find the Disney races a lot of fun - especially running with Ellen - even when I run them injured. I think it would have been a total blast to run the First Order Challenge healthy. Maybe some other time... in some galaxy far, far, away...
Sunday, April 15, 2018
This Week in Running 4/15/17
Total Miles: 22
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 7
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 7
Sunday, April 8, 2018
This Week in Running 4/8/18
Total Miles: 23
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 8
Ellen ran the Fool's Dual Half Marathon today and PR'd with a 2:04.
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 8
Ellen ran the Fool's Dual Half Marathon today and PR'd with a 2:04.
Sunday, April 1, 2018
This Week in Running 4/1/18
Total Miles: 20
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 6
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 6
Sunday, March 25, 2018
This Week in Running 3/25/18
Total Miles: 18
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5
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