You’ll Always Have Pain

Not exactly the words I was hoping for at my final final visit to my knee doc. Expected; but not my hope. 

I relayed precisely how I felt leading up to, through, immediately after and a few days after the recent Marine Corps Marathon as he patiently listened. After all, my dime.  From the time spent in the lobby I cannot get a firm handle on a typical patient of Dr. Najarian. High school athletes, blue-collar worker’s compensation, retirees, middle-age weekend warriors. All have been in the lobby but I bet few have been as annoying and persistent as I. 

‘Clearly you’re feeling better than before we started the injections’. He didn’t really ask the question; more of a statement with a slight inflection. Bait taken. I had to admit I felt no worse after the race than I did after a three mile jog with Samantha a few days before. As he again pulled up my MRI image he repeated what he’s told me so many times…..’you have a tiny pothole in your knee. That white spot means a flared bone area under it–that will not go away’. 

We landed on my my impatience being the reason for the excruciatingly lengthy recovery. He said if he’d immobilize my leg and put me on crutches for four-six weeks I’d be as good as I’d ever get. Problem with that is the many weeks-long rehab necessary to counter the muscle atrophy.  I need to land somewhere in the middle. 

Maybe I should have withheld the tidbit about following up this past weekend with a casual 10k over in the beautiful Jug Bay wildlife park. Peak Fall colors helped mask the ever-present throbbing, brought on, no doubt, by the fact that it was only a week after MCM ’13 and I made some attempts to run it a little quicker paced. 

Partly out of pride I took off from the start at about as quick a pace as I’ve run in several months. Mostly I took off quickly because of botched directions. Purely self imposed. Who knew Jug Bay had two addresses—we learned it after pulling into the incorrect one about fifteen minutes early. That should have been our first clue; we’re never early. Once redirected by an overly helpful bird-walk host we made our way to the correct location just in time to be late. 

Only one other time had I ever been the very last person to start an event—unfortunately this one did not use a chip timer, I did not know the course and I had not had any time to warm-up. Three strikes. 

I quickly pinned on my bib, stopped to take a photo of the starting line, me on the incorrect side, then started shuffling to said starting line. I gave a nod to the officials as I stepped across the finish/start line, did a 180 then started my run as the very last person. 

I did what I could to work my way through the crowds, stopping once about a mile in to take a couple photos of the vivid fall tree canopy. Catching my breath I again gave chase until I hit the top-end of my limited fitness level. Settling in I began again to take in the sights around. Marshes, dense woods, an elevated look-out tower, seemingly all colors of the rainbow. What a great event. With its spectator and runner-friendly out-and-back course, unusually reasonable fee, fall timing and festive finish it’s easy   easy to see why this is such a popular event for a rural 10k. 

Adding to the event was the historical aspect of the location. Back in WWII times black American pilots were often not allowed to train  or fly with white ones here in Maryland. This proved to be the case both recreationally as well as for military training. 

As such this location was utilized as a training site for black pilots; another blemish in our battle against discrimination. The Columbia Air Center has been memorialized and the small memorial has a number of informative pieces of US history. The park is well worth the trip just for a picnic and stroll around the trails. Yet another bonus added to the total experience of the morning! 

Winding down before the finish I particularly noticed my knee didn’t feel any better or worse than a week earlier; it hurt as simple as that. Conceding Dr. Najarian’s advice I’ve not so much as jogged a step since the weekend. 

‘You’ll always have some amount of pain’. 

Still settling in with that reality.  I’m unsure how long I can keep up the perpetual rehab pace. After a couple years of year-round cycling in the desert it’s rapidly becoming too cool and sloppy on the DMV roads and trails to rack up miles as I did all summer. I’ll try and land somewhere in the middle…….after all the next event is just around the corner and I can’t get back in shape just walking Sam in the park!