My Daughter Rocks!

My daughter, Jennifer, is a whiz at digital scrapbooking and photo manipulation. She has always taken care of the design of my blog and has just updated me back to my favorite blue colors with some truly awesome graphics and artwork. Thank you so much, Jenn!

I am also so excited because Jenn and Jeremy will soon be PCS'ing (I learned that means Permanent Change of Station in Army talk) from Naples, Italy to Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Much closer for visiting and getting in touch with and only a 2 hour time difference instead of an 8 hour time difference.

Starting Over

Weighing the pros and cons of continuing on with the upcoming marathons on top of several injuries and illnesses this year, I made the hard and sad decision to not run any additional long races in 2009.

After 2 weeks of rest, yesterday I started exercising again and so far the knee is holding up. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill with a good warm-up, following up the run with stretching and icing. I am working on revamping my training plans for the remainder of 2009 with hopes that 2010 will once again be a good year for me for running.

I didn’t kneed this to happen

My right knee has been hurting me since the Park City Marathon. That worries me a little bit for 2 reasons: 1) my right knee is my 'good' knee (the left one is the one that always is injured) and 2) I have never had a knee injury on the inside (not under the knee cap) of the knee before.

I tried to take it easy while running last week (ok – most of the time I tried), but it just seemed to get worse and last Saturday's run on the trails pushed me over the line. Sunday morning I woke up to a very sore knee and it had waked me up off and on during the night when I straightened the leg. I took Sunday and Monday off from any leg workouts, put a neoprene brace on the knee, started anti-inflammatories (thank heavens for Vitamin I) and did some icing. I also scheduled an appointment with a Sports Medicine doctor.

Today the knee was feeling somewhat better, I could go up and down stairs without too much pain. Signs the knee is healing.

This afternoon I met Dr. Jamie Longe. It is always nice to have a doctor that actually appears to understand the stresses of marathon running and training and doesn't automatically tell you to not do what caused the injury.

Diagnosis: Tendonitis in the hamstring attachment, Bursitis, and a pinched Meniscus. The Meniscus is the concerning factor. If it starts swelling or the pain gets worse, then we have to consider a torn Meniscus.

Treatment: Anti-inflammatories 3x a day. Topical anti-inflammatory ointment 4x a day. Ice for 20 minutes after working out and before bedtime. Stretching after running – he gave me 3 variations of a quadriceps stretch and 3 variations of a hamstring stretch to do. Running is ok. I just need to be careful and not run on trails for a while and not do exercises that cause that knee to have to pivot quickly. Brace it as needed for support.

That being said – with the doctor's permission – I am going to go for a run.