Two weeks from today is my next attempt at a marathon. The Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon. The last one (San Antonio) didn’t go too well mainly because I strained my abductor muscle a few weeks before, and they lied about having food at the start. The one before that (Phoenix) didn’t go well because of my torn meniscus. I still ran the full, but because I had missed a lot of training, I knew I would be hurting to do the whole thing. But I knew that going in so I wasn’t the slightest bit disappointed. This time, I am not convinced that I am ready, but really it’s all in my head. I should be ready, but part of me isn’t sure. It’s a lack of confidence in myself that I need to get over. How can I do it? Is there a formula, or a pill that I can take that will give me a mind boost? I know that there are actually running psychologists that specialize in this type of thing. Maybe it’s worth it to talk to one of them? Has anybody out there done that? I talk to other runners that I run with, and the successful ones all say that the first time that you get those negative thoughts out of your head, you will be fine after that. And the only way that they did it was to battle within themselves when those thoughts would start to creep in. They say that because you’ve done the training, you should be able to this. Sure your legs are going to hurt. They are going to hurt whether you keep running or whether you stop, so might as well keep running.
Archive for the ‘meniscus’
The Good, The Bad, and The Not So Ugly
Well there’s good news, and there’s bad news. The good news is that I don’t have a tear in my leg like I thought I may have. The bad news is that I have an abductor muscle strain, and a hematoma (sp) the size of an avacodo. That’s what is really hurting me because it’s pressing up against my leg muscle. But it is getting better. So now the plan is to take a few more days off, and then run on Saturday. Wahoo! I was actually thinking of running today or tomorrow, but here in Denver we are getting hit with a snow storm. There’s sleet, and hail, and rain, and snow, and god knows what else. You know the weather forecasters here are so lucky. They predict how many inches of snow we may have, and they haven’t got a clue. Everything they say, it get’s doubled. For instance they will say 2 - 4 inches of snow. Or 4 - 8, or 10 - 20. If I did that at work, I would get fired. “Hey Dave, what’s sales look like for this month”? I could say, “well I’m thinking 1 - 2 million this month”. Yeah right. Loser. So the last thing that I want to do is go running when it’s icy out. I guess I could run on the dreadmill, but that sucker hurts my knee too much. So I will just wait until Saturday, and run along on the Hi-line canal with some other running buddies. My marathon is only 2 weeks away so at this point, and whatever running I can get in is not going to matter too much. But the main thing is that I will still be able to do it!
Countdown to The OBX
One week from today is the OBX Marathon in North Carolina, and although I’m only doing the half, I’m still pretty excited. The long range weather forecast says it will be in the low 50’s and no precipitation that day. Seems like perfect running weather. My son Jason is geeked about it and is determined to beat me. I’m sure that there will be a small wager coming up on this, but I think it’s like taking candy from a baby. Even with my torn meniscus, my MS, my age (what am I 63 now?) and lack of training properly, I will still beat him. He doesn’t know it yet, but I will get him drunk the night before and he will sleep thru the alarm and not make it in time for the start. I can see it now, he’s running to get to the start while still trying to get dressed. Then he will take off like a rocket, pass me at mile 3, give me the finger and soon will be so far ahead that I can’t see him. However, by mile 8, I see him on the horizon, his pace has slowed to a shuffle, and is drooling profusely. I offer to help him by getting water, but he shakes me off and says, “yur a jlerk and I bill sthill beethe yooou”. Get a grip boy. I slow down just enough that I am taunting him, but by mile 12, it looks like he’s regained his composure and is now running all out again. I let him pass me and soon he is 50 yards ahead of me. But it looks like he’s slowing down again and soon we are even. At mile 13 we are neck and neck and I look at him, and he looks at me, and we know at that point what we must do. As he tries to trip me, I jump up and land on his foot. I see bone protruding out of his skin, but still he runs on. At this point I realize that he wants this more than I do and we are about 25 feet to the finish line. He’s limping so bad that I have to pull him up from behind and will all my might, I throw him across the finish line. The race director is so impressed that he immedialty declares this the Jason Gillikin memorial run and hands him a medal along with the post race banana and bagel. I’m so proud!
It Could Be Worse
I had an MRI on my knee yesterday and it’s not good news. I have a torn meniscus and a stress fracture on my femur. I also have a torn ACL, but I knew that. I did that about 10 years ago and just never got it fixed. But the torn meniscus and the stress fracture are my biggest problems. So it looks like I’ll be out of commission for awhile. I go next week to see an orthopedic doctor and I’ll find out then what my options are. I’m sure it’s going to at least be arthroscopic surgery and then maybe I’ll be out for week. If that’s the case, I may be able to run the half marathon in November with my sons, and maybe target another marathon in January or so.
I know I have to stay positive and hope for the best and I’m determined that I’ll come back stronger than ever. Blah blah blah. This sucks and I’m pissed. I just hope that if I have surgery, I’ll still be able to run. I really do like running and I can’t imagine not being able to do it.
I was diagnosed with MS about 6 years ago and I am one of the lucky ones. I don't have too many problems associated with it, and the disease has actually slowed down. I took up running 4 years ago just to see if I could do it. So far I've run 4 marathons in 2 years and 12 half marathons.