arthritis in both knees. I knew it but, having a second opinion that confirms this sucks. Went to Dr. Grant at Duke Ortho this morning for the usual routine of x-rays and consult. Over the past 2 years my running has diminished as my knees could not take what my mind and rest of my body wanted to do. I have had 3 series of injections of synthetic synovial fluid into my knees of the past year and a half with diminishing returns. Dr. Grant confirmed that at some point I will have to have a knee replacement. Since they only last about 10 years, I need to get to at least 55 before my first one. He was hopeful that I can continue to strengthen my knees to help delay the aging process of my knees. Thank goodness I have been biking more and more over the past year.
Running has been my passion and obsession for 30 years. It helped me get through high school, run the local racing scene with some success and slay a few personal demons along the way. I have read thousands of articles on running, read dozens of books and run hundres of races. What do I do know? I am optimistic that biking will give me some outlet but, it will never match the exhausted feeling of pushing myself to the max as often as I could on my runs. My particular genetic makeup lent itself to bad knees but, I would not change a step. I would still attack races, training runs and hammer running buddies the same way. The thrill of the chase is what drove me, the perfect race and to share some laughs along the way. Will I miss it, yeah. Time to go find some cycling buddies to drop on a training ride. I can still run some and might show up for a run from time to time. The engine is still good and the drive is there but, time to take the next step. Running has always given me SO much. Time to give something back.
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