Running in the House

I know I haven't blogged in a long time. Between deer season and the holidays, I guess something had to give. And it seems that blogging is the thing I’ve most neglected.



If you remember who I am at all, you may also recall that last summer I set a goal to run a half-marathon to celebrate my 50th birthday. During training, I promptly injured my knee. Namely, a proximal medial tibial stress fracture. Ouch! This, combined with cartilage damage in both knees that I have dealt with for a long time, brought my running to a screeching halt.

After I was finally able to walk pain free, the doctor released me to exercise and recommended I use my elliptical trainer to strengthen my knees. I’ve been doing that, but have never really gotten back to the point I was before the injury. I am very concerned about these jacked up knees of mine!

One of my friends recently had double knee replacement surgery. I talked to him in depth about how his knees were originally injured, how they slowly degenerated, the lifestyle changes that were necessary as the result of his bad knees and his experiences with the knee replacement surgery and rehabilitation. While I’m very happy for him that he is able to walk normally again, I definitely do not want to follow that long and grueling path.

All this to say that I’ve come to the decision that high impact running is just not worth the risk of further injuring my already not-quite-right knees. I plan to take my original knees with me to the grave.

So I am officially refining my goal:

I will still run a half-marathon.
But I will do it on an ELLIPTICAL.

Don't tell mom, but I'm running in the house! I will certainly not be the first to do this. Lots of people run 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons and even marathons on ellipticals. And it makes great sense! It has ALL the cardiovascular benefits of running but with MUCH less risk of injury. And I'm sure my knees will love me for it!

The first step was finding out what resistance setting on the elliptical is the cardiovascular equivalent of real running. This was relatively easy to do because I had been wearing a heart monitor when I ran and had collected the data for time, distance, calories burned, etc. So all I had to do is wear my heart monitor on the elliptical and find out (by trial and error) which resistance level would cause me to burn the same number of calories while running the same distance in the same amount of time as I did when I was actually running. It takes a resistance setting of 12 (out of 15) on my particular machine to equal the same amount of calorie burn as running.

I have already begun training for my elliptical half-marathon. So far, I have worked up to 4.0 miles. That's a long way from the 13.1 miles of a half-marathon. But it's a start!

My Running Injury (MRI)

I've been meaning to bring you up to date on my knee. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I had an appointment with the orthopedic specialist on Thursday, August 5th. It didn't take him long to figure out that my jacked up knee was caused by a stress fracture. He put me on crutches and scheduled me for an MRI on Monday, August 9th and a follow-up appointment with him today.

I got to see the MRI images today. Here is one of them...



You are looking straight at the front of my knee, but beyond the knee cap. The red arrow is pointing to the problem. You see that dark area inside the bone? Well, it's supposed to be the same gray color as the rest of the inside of the bone.

If you could see the other "slices" of the MRI, you could see that it's at least as deep as it is wide or tall. It's just below the growth plate of the tibia and is called a proximal medial tibial stress fracture. And it will heal... over the course of 6-8 weeks.

There is also cartilage damage inside the knee joint, but I already knew that. It's an old injury but now I know a little more about it, thanks to the MRI. The good news is the cartilage damage isn't in a place that is likely to be be aggravated by running. It's in the groove that the knee cap slides over. It mainly hurts when I'm on my knees.

I have another appointment in three weeks. At that time, he will take a regular x-ray and assess my progress. He will then decide whether I can start working on the eliptical or bike riding to strengthen the surrounding muscles and tendons. It will be weeks later before I can do any high impact exercising like running. And even then I will have to ease into it very gradually.

But over the next three weeks, he just wants me to get to the point where I can walk normally without pain. Baby steps.

Up to my knees in RICET.

Those of you who read my last blog know I set a goal to run a half-marathon.

The first day of training, I ran and walked 2.2 miles. Lordy, it was harder than I thought! It was a pain in the shins, but I figured that was to be expected.

I gave it a day or two of rest and then ran and walked 3.3 miles. It was again difficult and somewhat painful, but I felt like I did pretty well that day.

I gave it a few more days rest and then ran and walked another 3 miles. I felt good after the run, other than a little pain under my right knee. Then I drove home.

When I got out of my truck... OH MY GOD! Yeah, I apparently hurt myself royally! I have had knee problems for almost thirty years and hadn't considered how the high impact nature of running would affect that old injury. Yikes! In layman's terms, my right knee is JACKED UP!

That was last Wednesday. Since that time, I have been on RICET therapy...



Perhaps you have heard of RICE therapy? The "R" stands for Rest, the "I" stands for Ice, the "C" stands for Compression and the "E" stands for Elevation.

Well RICET therapy is just a slight modification of RICE therapy. It incorporates all the elements of RICE therapy, but with one additional element. The "T" stands for TEQUILA! Preferably, mixed in a margarita! Mindy's friend, Cindy, who is a runner, came up with RICET therapy and I have adopted it for my own use.

If you read my last blog, you know that I signed up for the Hottest 10K on August 15th. Well, guess what? That's NOT going to happen! I have an appointment with an orthopedic specialist on Thursday morning to get a diagnosis beyond "it's jacked up." Hopefully, I will find out what needs to be done for my knee and whether running is even a possibility. Stay tuned.

Running My Race

I am 49 years old. On May 3rd, 2011, I plan to turn 50. I say “plan to” because I could be run over by a bus or Jesus could come back. But barring any unforeseen or unusual circumstances, I will be a half-century old in less than a year. Five-0. That, my friends, is a milestone birthday if there ever was one! And cause for celebration!



How should I commemorate such an event? Well, I may mark it in many ways and I reserve the right to add to the list as I go along. But I have been giving this some thought and have decided on at least one fitting element of the celebration... good physical health.

After all, I have much to live for and a lot of great living ahead! Have you met my girlfriend, Mindy? Yep, she will keep me busy enough! And then there are my kids! And perhaps… one day… grandkids! So, going forward, I see my life filled with a lot of fun, youthful activity. There’s just no way around it.

To put it simply, I’ve got things to do. I am quite certain there are many tall mountains left to climb and all that mountain climbing could make me tired and out of breath if I don’t take good care of my body. I will. It's important.

And so I have decided that, among other things, I would like to celebrate my 50th year with a physical challenge. Something that makes a statement about the life that still lies before me and what it will require of me in order to enjoy it to its fullest potential. I want to do something that quite literally propels me into the next season of my life.


My Goal: Run a half-marathon. 21 kilometers. 13.1 miles. Uh huh.

Being that I have never been a runner in my life, I do not feel qualified to even consider a full marathon. Of course, the word “marathon” has that romantic ring to it. I can almost hear the soundtrack from “Chariots of Fire,” can't you? But as someone who has not yet run his first race, I must learn what it is I am even asking of myself. I feel a half-marathon is a realistic goal. I can envision it. It “feels” attainable. A half-marathon. Goal set. Check.

But one does not just get up off the couch one day, walk outside and run 13.1 miles. You have to work toward it. At least that’s what I have been told. Remember, I am not a runner... yet. On the other hand, I am not a couch potato either. I work out. I lead a relatively active lifestyle. And I believe I am in reasonably good physical condition. So how do I start the process? I jump in with both feet. (Pun intended.) I commit. That’s all I know to do at this point. So here goes nothin’...

I am now registered to run the “Hottest 10K” on August 15th at White Rock Lake in Dallas. A 10K run is 6.2 miles. I might have been inclined to start with a 5K, but one doesn’t happen to be offered at this event. So 10K it is.

I’d better get to runnin’!