Again to Carthage

So after knocking out 'the greatest novel about running ever written,' Once a Runner, last week while flat on my back following knee surgery, I loaded my Kindle with Mr. Parker's follow-up tome, Again to Carthage. I'm only 4 chapters in. But the story, so far, just doesn't quite live up to the magic contained in the first novel. Again to Carthage just feels darker and heavier than I was expecting. I'll have a full book report, I hope next week. I'm going through a couple of others as well, including the Erskine Caldwell classic, Tobacco Road. It is odd, but I never read two or more books at once unless one of them is on the Kindle. I try to support my local library more and more, but Again to Carthage wasn't in the catalog, so I pulled it in from the ether.

My knee continues to improve. I've done more Nordic and Gazelle workouts, mixed with biking and various leg lifts and saunas. It feels a little tired by the end of the day, but has no swelling or, what I would describe as, real pain.

For the coming week I plan to hit Unbreakable in KC on Wednesday evening. By Friday I hope to be out on the track doing some tentative first laps on the soft rubberized surface. I hope to be fully recovered and cranking out the miles by Colleen's Frozen Ass Run on Jan 13.

See you at the movies.

Late Week Update - won't have you in stitches

So, next Wednesday night, the ultra-marathon movie, Unbreakable, is going to be shown in KC. I'm planning to pop in to see it. It took some effort by members of the Trail Hawks to bring the film to the area. The trailer for the flick looks awesome. If anyone wants more info on this one-night booking (in a real theater), let me know and I'll shoot you a link.

I did my first workout in 9 days last night. My knee is hugely recovered - which seems almost miraculously early. I had the stitches removed yesterday, and questioned the doctor and nurse about what I could do. The answer was take it slowly, but biking, and no impact machines (Nordic Trac and Gazelle, in my case) are fine. So I knocked out 10 minutes on the Gazelle and NT followed by a bunch of crunches and knees strengthening exercises off of a sheet that had been provided. The result was no pain at all. I'm doing the same this morning.

On Monday I'll get to move to the rubberized track next to my house. The plan will be to lightly jog/walk 1-2 miles a day for the following week and then move up to 5k by the following week. The doctor said that popping back up to my more normal 10-15k distances shouldn't take more than a few weeks.

I will say that taking a bit more than a week off leads to insanely fast muscle deterioration in the quads. It also leads to 3-5lbs of weight gain. Shocking how many calories one burns through running.

More later...

No Kneed to Worry

Hola Todos. I apologize in arrears for the particularly smarmy title to this post. Today is day 5 since having surgery. The most discomfort I can report is a backache from sleeping too much on my back with my knee up on a support pillow. Last night I finally started to roll over on my side with a pillow between my knees and the ice machine's water cable still attached. It was not the most comfortable slumber I've ever experienced, but it was a definite improvement.

It seems crazy to write this, but in 4-5 days I'll start hitting the pool again in order to get my swim on. Then in about 16 days I'll begin to get my run on again. My plan for that is to hit the Free State track and run 1-2 miles every other day for the first week - icing after each run. Once I make sure that there is no ongoing problem, it is on to bigger and better runs. I'm hoping to get through this without much loss in strength and distance at all. But I won't push the issue as I rebuild. I do plan to get hyaluronic acid shots in both knees in January, which should allow for even more pain-free running.

As I've lain around the house this past week, I have fought off the staggering potential for onset of ennui. I actually don't know just how I did that. I really haven't done much other than work and read while lounging on the couch. I had been concerned that a dearth of endorphins would cause my mood to plummet. However, perhaps the pain from the surgery itself provided for the release of the endorphins. I really took no pain killers (ibuprofen). So I may simply be the beneficiary of unintended (good) consequences.

In the 'baby steps' category, I got behind the wheel yesterday and drove. No issue. I also have walked a bit without the assistance of crutches. And, other than experiencing some pretty messed up dreams - including one where I was forced to hit a man of small stature who's name was Mr. Pouty-Sissy (he must've been British), and another where friends came over to my house and destroyed the floors and kitchen (but in the construction/destruction's aftermath, I did find a second 'butler's staircase') - I have had no untoward after effects from the surgery.

As a footnote to this paragraph, I have been checking dreams out on interpretation sites. Hitting the small man can be interpreted to mean that I feel powerless (small man), and am trying to take some pro-active steps to regain control of some aspect of my life - surgery leads to loss of running... The house dream has much more to do with order being interrupted. Also attributable to surgery. Anyway, the dreams differ from my usual fare of unicorns, rainbows, ponies, and clouds, so I thought I'd report them.

Until next Sunday (or until something interesting occurs)... Have a great week. And don't get lost on the trails (you know who you are).

Knee Surgery

Anyone Hungry Yet?... Seafood?

I really hoped to have some gory pictures, but knee surgery looks much more like trimming aquatic plant life in an underwater setting. How'd it go?, you inquire. Well, it went better than I could have hoped. I had some really crappy rough spots with dead cartilage cleaned up. I also had some wear spots that were better than predicted - with both bone and cartilage wearing down in perfect complimentary ways (so only minor steps taken). And then I had a pretty decent meniscus tear that took some fixin'. But, and this is a big 'but,' no microfracture required. I will be running again in three weeks rather than three months! Yay!

I have, though developed a taste for chlorine, so I plan to continue my swimming workouts through the Winter. I hope to spend a few days running and a few days swimming each week, both for recuperation and in order to enhance core strength.

Apparently when I came out of surgery I was a bit whacked. I had a couple of conversations that I don't recall. "Ahhhh, Lucas," I sighed at one point. My friend, Marisa, who was there to be my Flo Nightengale, replied, "What about Lucas?" "I was just thinking about him," I answered softly, smiling. In case you are wondering, Lucas is my ill-tempered feline (who loves me to death, but is ...oh, how to say this politely...difficult). It was an odd thing to say.

Anyway, I'm not taking any of the great painkillers, because I haven't needed them. I have an ice machine pumping cold H2O over my elevated (and sexily shaved) leg. All in all, life is much better than I would've predicted it would be when I awoke this morning.

More next Sunday. Thanks to all my friends for the ridiculous amount of calls, emails, and good thoughts. I loved and felt them all.

The Greatest (running) Story Ever Told...

The Chilly Entrance to the Riverfront Trails This Morning

When you pick up a book to read, and the cover not only has the author's name and the name of the book, but also has a blurb stating that it is "The best novel ever written about running," you might think to yourself, sure it is...

In the case of John L. Parker, Jr.'s, Once a Runner, the blurb may actually be correct. If it is not the best, it is certainly one of the best. I had been hearing about the novel for years, but had mainly limited myself to reading more non-fiction articles and books on the sport/lifestyle of running. True, if you have read previous posts, you will realize that I do enjoy reading fiction (and fiction about running). But while a large number of runners are shockingly good writers, there really isn't a whole lot of fiction that really delves into running. Once a Runner lives and breathes running. It has peaks, valleys, denouements; all the things one expects in a good piece of fiction. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves the sport and wants a good read. You'll laugh. You'll cry...

While I can't do the winter wear extravaganza that Mizuno is putting on at Gary Gribbles in December (due to knee surgery), I was able to see their winter fabrics at work yesterday. Honest to god, if you pour liquid onto the fabric, it heats up. I have never seen anything like it. If you run in the cold, you should absolutely try the Mizuno products. If nothing else, just for the novelty of it. It is simply different from anything I've tried before.

Finally, I completed my last run for 3 months today. Knee surgery on Tuesday will put me on forced hiatus. The past 4 days found me running 8mi, 8mi, 5mi, and 8mi. I've tried to run super hard to empty the tank, as it were, but have felt nothing but great. Tomorrow I'll get a last quick swim in the a.m. before taking about 10 (endorphin-free) days off to let the holes heal. Then it will be a Winter of swimming and pedaling before emerging in the Spring (I hope) ready to run.

So get ready for some surgery and swimming blogging. I promise that if I can get nappy vomitous pics of the surgery that I will post them. So, until later, run in person and in your mind.

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

It has been an eventful and terribly trying year filled with job changes, stress, a depressing political atmosphere (in KS especially), and anxiety over upcoming surgery (next Tuesday). All of this has made the past year, as QE II would say, an annus horiblus.

In the midst of my depression, angst, and physical decline (well after about 30, we all are on the downward slope), I did try to think of some things for which to be thankful. The following is a list in no particular order:

- I'm thankful for my friends. In person, on line, Skype, and phone friends. All of you are collectively the best thing in my life (I did get that subject/verb agreement correct, seriously). I value you more than you could know.

- I'm thankful for the River and Clinton Lake trails that have allowed me so many wonderful hours of running alone with my thoughts, or together with my friends over the past years.

- As an overview to the preceding, I am really thankful for the running I have done and will continue to do. Running has become less of a sport and more of a raison d'etre for me. I am not a musician, a businessman, a Democrat, etc... who runs. But instead, I am a runner who also happens to be a musician.... you get the idea. It defines my very existence. I am most relaxed and spiritually 'at peace' when I'm pounding a trail or road. I'd expound, but I want to keep this brief.

- I am thankful that I live next to an Olympic size swimming pool. With surgery crushing my runs for the Winter months, life would be terribly dreary. And, while swimming isn't really my 'thing,' I am glad that somehow my karma set up my current locale just when I needed it.

- Almost finally, I am thankful that I have the ability to work. In this economy one can never be certain of the future. But I have a job, have been offered others, and am fairly confident (knock wood) that I could find something suitable should my current situation take a turn (which should not be the case). But I do recognize how many people are facing a terrible and uncertain future right now while our government does seemingly less and less to create jobs or assist those who are out of work and without hope.

- And finally, I am thankful for my family. While I am single, I do have family all around. My parents still live and have good health. My brother's family continues on with all of the foibles common to most American families. My Aunt and cousins and their families seem to be thriving. So all could be a lot worse.

- And finally finally, I'm thankful for my health overall. Knee problems aside, I really never experience anything too terrible. And without health, I cannot imagine truly having the capacity to enjoy life.

If you do want to donate to good causes, this is the time of year to do so. I switched my credit card issuer earlier this year from one that gives me cash back, to one that gives the same amount to the Sea Shepherds. That is about the easiest way to give - without even thinking about it.

Good local charities - wherever you live, you can amend your list to include ones in your area that match the following types of charities:

Health Care Access (low-cost health care)
the Lawrence Community Shelter (homeless advocates)
Bert Nash (mental health)
cockadoodlemoo.org (farm animal sanctuary)
KANU (Public Radio)
DCAP (AIDS care)

Whatever you can give will always be appreciated. I am thankful that I have the ability to give - even if it is just a bit.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Bilateral Negotiations

I took a run by myself on the riverfront trails yesterday. It was the definition of a 'blustery day.' Wind, normally redirected and tamed as it passes through dense foliage, instead ripped between trees and vines denuded of their leaves. It was a truly odd experience to be on the trails for the first time in the season without the canopy.

The openness allows for a heightened awareness of 'where you are' on the trail at all times. You can also see the trail heading in the opposite direction during much of the run - something which is not apparent in other seasons. One of the neatest things I noted was a very long and very solid old iron staircase that headed down from the trail to the river's edge at .92 mi. I stopped and, after testing it for structural integrity, took it down to the banks. I can't think of another time that I ever did that. It was beautiful, and worth the interruption to my run. As I ascended a few minutes later, I couldn't help but wonder how the stairwell came to be place there. It is not a temporary structure. t is solid and comes to rest at its upper end a foot or two above the ground. Because there is no sign of any development around it, the stairs must have led up to a wooden landing that has long since decayed and left no footprint. I have been thinking about it off and on since finding it. It has crossed my mind that it could be part of the old North Lawrence park/fair grounds that went along the river in the late 1800's. I'm going to ask around, and let you know when I do.

Continuing on with the no-leaves theme; the run also reminded me (as it does every year) just how many incredible trees we have along the river. Their scale is really enormous for this region of the country. In other months, I never notice the trees because they are covered. The greenery they carry somehow diminishes the majesty of their scale. And the vines and volunteer plants that hang off of and between the giants are impressive in their own right. I spent a lot of the run simply looking upward (not a recommended way to run on technical trails - which this isn't) and observing the intricacies of the superstructure that underlies the three-season greenery. Quite impressive.

In swimming - yes, dear readers, I said swimming - I had a bit of a breakthrough week. My coach had been working to get me to do unilateral breathing on my dominant (right) side. I have always been a unilateral breather on my left side. And while I could swim decently that way (without too much post-swim dizziness), breathing on my dominant side was causing me to cough and sputter. I was quickly doubting whether I'd be able to actually pull this swimming-thing off. But at the end of a session last week, my coach mentioned bilateral breathing. She said that most triathletes swim using that technique. It is a little harder, but that I might be able to get used to it once I had unilateral breathing down. Just for kicks she had me try it. What happened next was amazing. I took to it as a cat laps milk (that's Shakespeare, people. No kidding). For me it was the most intuitive way I could possibly imagine swimming. My coach seemed a bit shocked and very pleased.

So, now I have my post-surgery stroke down (that sounds either really obscene or medically bad - too many meanings for one simple word). I hope to be able to emerge from the pool in a few months ready to take on a triathlon of some real proportion at that time. For me, finding the optimal way to breathe was the key to becoming comfortable in the pool. I hate doing anything I care about in a half-hearted manner. So achieving this breakthrough ticked off a step toward a major goal for the Winter.
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Move Rec: If A Tree Falls - incredible documentary about the human spirit and a commentary on the limits (right or wrong) of protest.