okay. i met with my physical therapist for the first time yesterday. his name is bob and he's fantastic!
he quickly informed me that i am "not built for endurance," rather, i am "built for power." i think that was his way of gently saying "honey, you're carrying a lot of weight on that short little frame and all the pounding that happens when you do distance running or walking is not good for your joints." bob encouraged me to ditch run/walking and embrace cycling or swimming. he thinks i would excel at those and they would be kinder to my knees. thanks, bob.
actually, it was interesting. and, after i poured my heart (and a few tears) out to him about how much i wanted and was determined to do this half-marathon in october, he said that he didn't think it would kill me to do the event, but that i needed to consider alternate forms of training and fitness for the long run. i think i can live with that.
after poking and prodding on me and twisting my lower leg around at different angles, bob also let me know that he thought that the pain i've been experiencing is not necessarily from the mildly-dislocated patella (knee cap), rather that i have a tear in my Miniscus (the gelatinous cartilage that absorbs the impact of your femur and tibia when you run or walk; this tissue does NOT heal or regenerate after age nineteen... muy muy bad news); or that i've torn my MCL (a ligament that prevents the opening up of the knee when you're in motion). if i've torn my Miniscus, that is obviously not good news. but it is what it is and all i can do from this point on is try to mitigate the natural degeneration. tearing the MCL would be a much better case, because it does heal itself!
so, i am returning to Team on Saturday (July 3rd), after a five week hiaitus. i'm nervous because my teammates will have made so much progress and will inevitably be much faster, since they've been working nonstop since my injury. but alas, i must remind myself that this isn't a competition, that it is really only about me and what i can accomplish, and last but not least, that i'm pretty lucky this injury wasn't more serious and i'm able to finish at all!
fundraising is coming along. i am still waiting to hear back from Lisa and Nikki about my Bellinis & Bling fundraising total. i'm hoping i made at least $100! that would put me at 20% of my goal ($500)!
i am working on fundraiser #2 right now, a Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament hosted by my friends Toan and Simone. they are offering up their lovely home in rocklin for a 30-person tournament. the buy-in will be $40, with half of that going directly to me for Team... that's $600 when you do the math! we're also doing a cash bar, where we'll serve beers and mixed drinks for tips (hopefully our players will be generous). i'm hoping to get food donated (anyone with leads would be appreciated). i also have some friends who have talked about putting together a big basket of donated goodies (ie: homemade pesto, homemade pasta sauce, homemade honey, designer cake gift certificate, etc) to raffle off! it should be a lot of fun!
stay tuned for a return-to-workout-debrief!
besos,
liz
A few comments, Liz:
ReplyDelete1. I finally read this blog entry, and I friggin love your paragraph about being "built for power." I <3 your stupid guts, Liz.
2. Last week a fellow gym bunny friend of mine found out that she has had a torn meniscus for over a year. That crazy girl has been working 60+ hour weeks while doing spin and kickboxing. I'm not saying it's smart, but I'm also saying that it can be done.
3. Today I heard that a colleague of mine has been in and out of the doctor's office for a month and was finally diagnosed with lymphoma. I hope that in some small way your efforts help him and folks like him. As if getting you on track to a huge goal wasn't enough, fundraising for an important cause sure does help. I'm sooo grateful for TNT.