The Big Day

The big day is finally here! "D" day! Doctor (ie Orthopedic Surgeon) Day!!!

So, you ask, how did it go? Well, my friends allow me to tell you the short version of my 70 minute doctor's visit this afternoon...

As I sat in the doctor's office having just relayed the details of my knee pain to the nice orthopedic surgeon's physicians assistant & his student I suddenly felt like I was living the book "Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall. Granted, I've actually only read the first 2 chapters of the book (it just wasn't something I could get in to), but Christopher McDougall was pretty much told the same thing I was about running. In a nutshell, "It's not good for you."

Erroneous! That's what I wanted to tell my PA. Apparently the world really is separated into 2 groups: runners & non-runners. Non-runners just don't get it. I actually think they don't want to get it & prefer to live thinking that they are superior beings! My PA told me he played soccer & basketball, but whenever he tried to run he would get hurt... I wanted to tell him that maybe if he was a little smarter he would know how to prevent running injuries (and maybe be an MD instead of a PA), but I held back... I figured that comment would get me no where fast.

The gist of it is that I was diagnosed with bilateral patellofemoral pain... runner's knee. (Surprise, surprise!) He said it could be something else & if the pain gets intense again that I should come in for a follow-up. However, it seemed like this was simply runner's knee & I've been doing all the right things. As much as this was a relief, it was also annoying 'cause he did leave it open to possibly being something else.

Then, he went on telling me that it's likely my body can't handle the mileage that I was doing before my injury & that I will probably have to settle for running no more than a 10K for the rest of my life... seriously. I nodded & smiled & agreed to up my elliptical time to 45 minutes like he suggested, but the entire time all I could think of was the book "Born to Run." I suppose if I'm going to use that book as my motivation to defy all odds & prove my PA wrong I should finish reading it, but I've read enough reviews to know where the book is going & thus where my running journey is about to take me... Barefoot Running! The time has come to venture into new territory!