My Left Knee

So, ya, I hurt my knee awhile back. Long story short...I was crossing the road (at the crosswalk, with the light, mind you) and I got hit by a car. I thought the lady was just getting a bit too close as she moved towards me, but then I realized she wasn't going to stop. Of course, by then I was already up on her hood...then down on the road. I broke my left arm, and my left knee. Well, not really my knee, but my "tibial plateau". It got all kinda' crushed down. So the doctor had to build it back up with the use of three big honking screws.

Nowadays it doesn't cause me too much trouble. Other than the fact that it takes me awhile to get up off the floor, I can predict oncoming rain storms with amazing accuracy, and I have this gorgeous 7 1/2 inch scar down the front of my left leg...it's not that big of a deal.

Of course, I never really tried to run on the sucker before.

This past Sunday (after finding out I wasn't doing as well as I had thought), I went all out on my treadmill. I was pretty determined to go as far as I could. I was feeling great. Not too full, not too hungry, no stitches in my side...all was good. So I ran and I ran. At some point during that run I took one single stride that hurt. like. hell. Just that one step. It felt like something went terribly, terribly, wrong. But, then, the very next step was fine. My knee felt maybe just a wee bit "achy" now, but no real pain. I managed to finish 2.4 miles (woo hoo!) with 30 minutes of non-stop running (no walk breaks! woo hoo!). I was so excited to have done so well (I have never run for 30 minutes straight before in my life) that I wasn't even too concerned about my knee. I just did a few stretches and then grabbed an ice pack. All was good.

The next day, my knee was still a bit achy and I also woke up with a terrifying looking black spot on my side (but, that's another story...) so I gave my doctor a call. He had me come in right after I was done work and an ultrasound and xrays were scheduled for my knee. I had those done on Wednesday. I didn't run on Monday, or Tuesday, but I got back on the treadmill after all the pictures had been taken.

Really, I didn't feel too bad at all (just running a bit terrified about this terrifying looking black spot on my side...for which the doctor has me booked in as an "urgent case" at the dermatologist. But, that's another story...). I did 2.0 miles in 25 minutes. I could have gone longer, but I really didn't want to push it. Then I did a less half-arsed version of my usual stretching routine. I think stretching a bit longer than 12 seconds per is probably a good idea, right?

Now it is Friday and I'm planning on running again tonight. I'll let you know how it goes and I'll let you know the results of all my tests when they come in. And, I'll let you know more about this terrifying looking black spot on my side soon, too.

p.s. That isn't really my knee up there. I don't have a photo of my xray. But, if I did, that's pretty much exactly what it would look like. Freaky, huh?