READY OR NOT, HERE COMES MIAMI

Miami last year. Looks like I just remembered
that I accidentally left the stove on.

Quick update on my knees as we head into the Miami Marathon THIS SUNDAY! Yikes!

So after my snow run, my knees felt really good. No third day reckoning like the pattern had seemed to indicate before. My knees might have felt a little “worn” but nothing that approached the usual flare up. It’s not like they are healing or anything, they still lack any power should I need it and bending them in certain ways (aka much at all) is met with much concern. However, when I am able to walk around and use stairs without thinking about it, I count that as a win. So the time after the 4.3 mile snow run was a win.

Twelve days later (on the 19^th) I decided to go for another run since my legs were feeling good and I wanted to make sure the previous run wasn’t a fluke. So I took off work a little early so I could do it in the daylight and went for it. It was tougher than the snow run funnily enough, but I was able to do four miles without too much issue. I took a hillier route than usual, my old 10k route cut short, and I could definitely feel that. I did power walk up one steep hill, but otherwise it was a solid jog at 10:45/mile. After I was done with the four miles I did another mile that was a combination of walking and jogging, just to get some more miles on my legs.

Overall, my legs responded well and it was encouraging. While I was sore afterward, again, it wasn’t quite as bad as before and the run itself didn’t totally smash me physically. It was doable. The half marathon is going to be hard and feel like marathons have in years past, but I think I’ll be able to do it. If I can do five miles without issue, what is another eight? After this run my knees also felt great. I’ve been wearing the knee braces and I wonder if that has made a difference at all. Yesterday, Sunday, should have been the day three “blow up” but it was nowhere to be found. I felt so good that I played catch with Brandon and was running around. This was without braces. And today my knees feel no so fresh. Ugh. Now, typically they blow up really bad if I’m going to have issues, going from red to green in a day, so hopefully this is just a small bump and they’ll feel better tomorrow.

It’s also hard to tell because when you sit around they like to stiffen up (one of the symptoms of what happens with psoriatic arthritis, whaddaya know!). So I’ve been sitting around all day at work and they are stiff. As I know from physical therapy, if I “warm them up” they feel pretty good and I can do things. So I don’t know. I would like to get another run in, but maybe I should just do cardio on the elliptical (although, my one test on there also resulted in a blow up). I’m not sure. Just want to beef up as much as I can cardio wise before the half, but cramming for the exam at this point probably isn’t the best idea. We’ll see. If anything I think I’ll just do three miles so I don’t push things.

UPDATE: Well, I didn't post this Monday as expected, so I'll report how I feel today, Tuesday. Okay. About the same as yesterday. Maybe a touch better. Both days would be a "yellow" on the old chart. So not bad. I might not do anything until the race. Don't want to chance anything. Excited for my trip though!

SNOW RUN! PART 2

Ever since running in the snow way back in February of 2014 I've been itching to do another snow run! Last winter we really didn't get any snow, so when it started coming down on Saturday I started to feel sorry for myself. It looked so magical outside and here I was all crippled and unable to get out there and enjoy it.

Well, after about an hour or so, I was like... wait. I'm actually feeling pretty good in terms of my legs and knees. So I decided to go on a run in the snow. There was probably only a half inch on the ground, so the footing was pretty good but everything was still pretty much covered. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, with the questionable knees and potential poor footing and lack of fitness, but I believe that is why "YOLO" was invented.

Anyways, I started to run and it felt pretty damn good. Really enjoyed myself. I didn't realize it had been 27 days since my last run. Crazy! I would have said like a half a month, not almost a whole one. Surprisingly, my fitness seemed alright. Maybe it was because I was going a little slower because of the snow (and it was slippery in a few places), but I was able to run pretty comfortably the whole time. Until this point, I hadn't run more than three miles since the Rum Run back in May. My last three mile run felt pretty killer. However, I did 4.3 miles in the snow without much trouble. I could have done five easy if I wanted. Felt great. So that was encouraging and frankly surprising.

According to the "schedule" I should be hobbling in pain tomorrow. It's so weird, everything felt great during the run Saturday, again the next day Sunday, and today Monday I'm fine. My legs are tired and sore, but that makes sense, and they are not weirdly sore. However, after activity it seems to be two days of "okay" followed by multiple days of a crippling flare up. We'll see if the trend holds. That's what makes this thing so frustrating, you feel fine and can do things without issue and then half a week later all of a sudden you're taking the elevator to the 2nd floor.

Thinking back though, it makes sense. I remember running hard at PRC on a Monday, then taking it easy on a Wednesday and then getting a flare up on Thursday. On Thursday, I'd wonder why in the hell my easy run caused a flare up when the hard run didn't do anything, but really it was probably just this same delay. I'd say if I'm hobbling tomorrow then the pattern is pretty clear. Anyways, just six weeks from the next doctor! Wohoo! And at this point I'm confident I can finish Miami. Not comfortably, but my two friends I'm "running" it with aren't in any better shape.

Lastly, I got the MRI results back. Basically my knee looked normal. He said there were a few small things, something about a "fat pad" and I forgot what else. Basically he said they didn't concern him and were common if the knee was inflamed. They also wouldn't explain both knees being jacked up, most mechanical issues are just going to affect one knee. Anyways, he said the rheumatology referral would be the next step so he is glad we went ahead and did that proactively.