Good News!

I have bad knees. I tend to ignore it, but in the last few weeks it was getting much worse. So today I went to the doc to have them looked at, expecting the worst. Yes, I purposely waited until after Free State, just in case I was told to take a few weeks off.

Things were much better than I had expected. My pain going down hills and stairs is due to patellar tendonitis - no big deal. I need to get back on the bike and stretch more, but I was told there's no reason to decrease my running at all. He also said based on my x-rays, the reason for the family history of problems is that I have less space between my patella and femur than "normal" people which makes my knees more prone to rubbing and grinding, but right now everything looks good.

That is also why road running causes more discomfort than trails - more impact means more of a chance of bad contact within the joint. And the bad genetics will only be helped by exercise and keeping a healthy weight. He said I should expect much better longevity out of my knees than my family members as long as I keep it up.

His exact words: "No reason to stop running unless you want to, and I really doubt you want to." There's a reason I found a doc who is also a runner! Looks like I better keep running and doing triathlons - doctor's order. :)

(Free State RR and photos coming soon)