Hey folks. I've had a crazy idea recently. My friends at work are seriously mocking me for this idea. But oh well, they usually do that anyhow!!!
Recently I was in London with my wife celebrating her birthday as we walked the town. It was a great day and we very much enjoyed the sights. Well, the next day the annual London Marthon was scheduled to take place. It was VERY interesting to see the preparations being put in place. And then a couple days later on Monday, I had some interesting discussions with some coworkers about the marathon and someone made an interesting comment to me. They said, "Hey Paul, do you run? You look like the kind of guy that would run a marathon."
Ok, done laughing now?? Let me give you a moment.... Ok, bottle it up and keep reading!!!
Ah, nice comment I assume. Except I truly know that it couldn't be anything further from the truth. I haven't purposefully ran for fitness in about 16 years. And since I am 30, I realised that this is OVER HALF MY LIFE. What a LAZY BUM am I!!! :)
A little more background. I have a father that I prefer to think of by first name only now (as opposed to anything related to "dad") because, well, he's pretty much a loser. Yeah, harsh... He did take good care of us as kids, provided for us in every way physically needed and he didn't beat me or anything bad. However, he also never formed a real relationship with me or any of my siblings. Some of them really ended up quite emotionally scarred from this. I think I have gotten over that pretty well. And he was a crap husband to a really great mother and wife.
He also a handful of years back went through a divorce with my mother. And rather then staying nice and civil - as she DID support him domestically for 30 or 714 years or some long period of time - nah, he got nasty. REALLLLLY nasty. Not only that, but the punk was seeing someone else while still married, bought a house in Texas and forged my mother's signature on the mortgage and quite a few other things that nasty liers do.
Anyhow, this crazy nutcase of a man apparently started running during that phase. This is probably good as while I don't particularly like the man, I don't really wish him badly either. And I would assume starting to run is a good healthy thing to do (if it doesn't kill you). And not just little bits, but perhaps half marathons or even marathons, I don't really recall.
So. When my friend at work so complimentarily suggested that I could be the sort that ran, it occurred to me that I SHOULD be the sort that ran. What more then laziness (which I am REALLY good at) stops me from getting off my bum and keeping fit.
So I dreamed up one of my classic instant crazy plans.
Well, as I chatted with folks, I came up with the more short term plan to train and run some 10Ks with the goal of running a half marathon around the end of the summer. If all goes well, I would love to run the London Marathon 2009. But that's probably getting ahead with the plan.
So I chatted with a couple folks, did a bunch of internet research and started to get excited about this plan. And to mix it up a bit I thought I could do some cycling as a bit of cross-training, which I think is recommended.
Well, this is where, as my older brother would like to point out, I realise that I am getting old. Ok, maybe at least oldish.
Last time I ran 16 years back, I had not a problem with the whole thing. However, last Wednesday my result was somewhat less successful. I had a nice run. Ran about 1.5-2 miles and then walked another 4 or so. However, about a mile in I started experiencing this knee pain that I used to feel when I did anything athletic about a year back. Unfortunately it got to the point that I pretty much had to stop running. I kept trying, but it just wasn't working.
So I did some more internet research and discovered the root of the problem - the dreaded Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Basically, long story made short, there is a tendon in your leg that stretches from your hip to right below your knee. When this is too tense (or something), it rubs against the base of the femur and becomes quite a bit inflamed and fussed up. And I can tell you, it really sucks.
I am pretty sure this is the root of the problem as there is this test called the Noble compression test which is quite easy to perform. So my wife and I applied pressure at the right place on my knee and yep, it sure hurt at the 30 degree point. And the more I examined the documentation regarding the problem, the more it really actually made sense with the physical pain I was experiencing.
Well, perhaps. The right advice out there is to ice it and take anti-inflamatories and such. However, you also need to stop activity until you find out what is really going on. This usually involves going to a physiotherapist so they can do a biomechanical examination and figure out what is causing your particular case of ITBS. If you ask my peers at work, they seem to think it has something to do with my legs being different lengths. But what do they know. :)
So I went to my NHS General Practitioner today to see if I could get a physio referral. Even though I was advised that this might be unlikely, I actually managed to get the referral! Very cool. So hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks I will get an appointment and make the visit. I may also go ahead and buy myself some decent running shoes after payday next week as I have heard that this will likely help as well.
I am having a bit trouble with impatience as I actually really want to get running again. I found some great guides for training that I would like to give a go. However, according to what I read, I really need (kneed? hehe) to take it easy.
So, wish me luck and keep me in your prayers (at least my knee)! :)
