I’m still here!

Hey there!

I’ve been MIA, and have not been great with writing.

Did you miss me? 

No??

Didn’t even notice???

Huh. Regardless, I am back. At least for this post!

Yeah, so, sitting down to collect my thoughts, at least over the past month, just felt like something I had NO time for. I took time to nap on a few occasions. I took time to play catch with my kids more than I usually do. Those are all good things for me, but writing is also. Funny thing though, the longer I go without writing, the harder it is to motivate myself to get started again. 

So here I am. 

How’s my knee?

Well, to be honest it feels amazing.

I’m 10 months post-op. 

My knees are totally the same size, essentially all the time. Extra activity no longer means swelling, even slight swelling. Prior to surgery, my L knee was swollen at ALL times, with or without activity, for almost a year. So I like having symmetric knees! The knee is still fairly numb on the surface. It feels strange, and I have to be careful shaving that area. I also still get random nerve firings at the weirdest times. It usually happens in the middle of a work meeting where it would be weird to suddenly get up or Yelp in response to the electric shock sensation in my L lower extremity. So I sit and cringe and wait for it to pass. 

I walk without really thinking about it. I can walk “fast.” I can walk up and down hill. I go up and down stairs without thinking about it. It’s all pretty amazing to realize how far I’ve come, even from where I was 6 months post-op. 

I’ll admit that I’ve been a lazy piece of you-know-what when it comes to working out this past month. So lazy! But I need to keep working on my strength in my legs to keep my knee healthy for as long as possible. Not to mention I’ve lost every shred of “muscle mass” in my upper body and I feel my arms jiggling when I wave. Time to tone that back up again! So I went to the gym today and had a really excellent workout!

Sometimes I intentionally wear this hat to remind me where I’ve been and what I’m capable of. It also helps that maybe the other gym-goers see it and feel some sort of respect for what I once was. 

Shallow? Maybe. But I’m trying to be honest, and honestly, sometimes you need to wear something that screams “look at what I did that one time!!!”

Come on. We’ve all done that before. Whether at a race or the gym. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this. 

Ok. I’m alone. Whatever. 

So I wore this hat and got myself pumped up. 

And look at what I did:

 

Leg press at 250! Obviously using both legs but it really felt like a very even effort between both legs.  And wow did I feel strong!

Also did a few sets of leg curls with more weight than I’ve ever done and more importantly, no pain! Hooray!

Did some other stuff, then had a good 20 minutes on the bike which felt great and had me sweating like crazy. 

Here comes the best part...

I tried the Erg, for the first time in a really long time. **Disclaimer: I like the Erg. It’s not a torture device the way many people view it. I’ve liked it since I rowed in college and I realized that I am good at it.** I haven’t been able to do it in years because of knee pain but I thought I’d try it today, and it felt good. So I did 20 minutes, 4800 meters, and no pain at the end!!!

What else?

Well, I’ve noticed how “not ugly” my feet are since it’s been 365+ days with no running. I have all 10 toenails, no blisters, no discoloration, just normal feet. 

Not really a huge deal, but something to celebrate when you certainly aren’t going to celebrate your lack of running. 

Final thoughts: I watched my kid run a race a little over a week ago. It was an incredibly surreal experience. Besides the fact that I physically was not feeling well (GI bug that was trying to make itself known), I am still very new to the spectating-a-race experience. And then I was nervous and hopeful that it was going to be a good experience for him!

I tried to take it all in through his eyes. 

Taking him to pick up his bib:

Encouraging him to lay out his clothes the night before (when he’s thinking clearly), and showing him how to set up “flat Charlie”:

....all things I had taken for granted before, and loved sharing with him for this race. 
He didn’t understand why I was taking pictures of EVERY SINGLE THING but then remembered that’s just me, and he went along with it. 

Seeing him at the halfway was exciting! It was hot but he was having fun. 

And then I saw him at the finish and I felt like crying. 

It was hard but he really liked the whole experience. Even if he never runs another race (**I really hope he does though**) I am forever grateful that I got to experience this with him, through him, right by his side!

Just 2 years earlier, I had the best race of my life at the Philly 10K! I don’t feel sad or bitter, more grateful that I have such amazing running memories!

 

Thanks for reading, as always. 

Go Eagles!