Monday, December 3, 2007

injury accumulation

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been noticing several minor injuries developing. I guess injury is too strong a word. Maybe joint unhappiness is more accurate. Strangely though, everything seems to be getting unhappy at the same time: left wrist/hand, left knee, right knee, right hip flexor… probably something else will pop up today. Maybe I just need a few days off from everything, but it’s hard to resist getting out there on a run or ride since these are all such minor inconveniences. Maybe I need to bring stretching back into the mix.

This reminds me of a common comment I’ve heard throughout my life (mostly from non-runners): “running ruins your knees.” There’s always those stories floating around about the guy that used to be so fit and ran all the time and used to run marathons and triathlons until he “ruined” his knees and now can’t run anymore.

I don’t fully believe this story. But even if it’s true, I wonder what difference does it make? So he doesn’t run anymore and he’s got a bad knee. So what? At least he ran once. At least he experienced something of this world that wasn’t easy or fully understood by those around him. At least he got out there everyday and experienced the quiet cool fresh air and the birds singing to the sunrise, and the intense heat of summer, and the downpours of rain, and beautiful sparkling purple nights… A bad knee seems a small price to pay for such earthly moments.

Last Week
Run 16 = 7+9 [ytd 1001]
Bike 107 = 3+18+4+(3+2)+10+(23+10)+(27+7) [ytd 2873]
Burrito 2 [ytd 112]
Beer 8 = 1+2+1+1+3 [ytd 530]
Car 26 = 9+17 [ytd 2157]
Rain 2.8 cm [season to date 9.2]

1 comment:

mindful mule said...

update:
also left hip
and left Achilles