See Hear Speak No Evil

that was my half marathon time.

That’s just under 10 minutes a mile. AWESOME!

Totally slaughtered my goal of 11 minute miles! AWESOME!

I’ve already started looking for the next one. Maybe September…

I’ll post a near finish picture when I get one.

Oh, those many blissful months ago when I so boldly stated that I was training to run a half marathon? 13.1 miles. That’s right.

Well, my wait is almost over. D-day is this Saturday. Wait! WHAT!!!! Saturday?! I’m no where NEAR ready to run 13.1 miles (THIRTEEN POINT ONE MILES!!!!) in 5 friggin days! Hep me jebus!

Kidding. Totally kidding.
I’m certainly not a ready as I should be. But two weeks ago I did 11.5 miles and have been running 8-12 miles per week since I started training (excluding long weekend runs).

And let me tell you. I can’t wait to get back to doing other shit I enjoy. Hiking… almost can’t remember what that’s like.
Bicycling through the mountains. Nope. A fleeting memory.
Having a full weekend with nada to do. Who am I kidding. I don’t really want that to happen.

Anywho- looking forward to the run on the effing road in Durango, CO. Yes, I said on the road. Our instructions are to “run against traffic.” Who plans a race and doesn’t close off the road? Especially when part of the registration money is going to charity for some kid who probably got hit while running or biking against traffic. What a crock of shit!

But. Steamworks Brewery (of awesome brewery status) is hosting the after part-ay at the Durango Sports Club where there will be free food but more importantly FREE BEER! that’s probably so you won’t bitch about the running against traffic.
Oh, and a hot tub. And maybe a massage.
How does one pass that up? I sure can’t.

This one, I’m doing to finish (and kinda for time. I’m hoping for a sustained 11 minute mile which puts me crossing the finish line at just befor 10:15 in the am) and really hoping that it doesn’t make me feel an insane urge to go for a full marathon. If it does. Commit me. Please.

Am hoping for an action shot of me NOT crawling across the finish line. Will post with my superb time next week.

This is what I found out from the MRI:

Bruised bone, possible Meniscus damage (inconclusive from MRI), and severed ACL.

Yeah, totally tore my ACL.

They have scheduled me for surgery on May 19th. I had decided to wait because of a wedding I needed to photograph. I kind of need to walk for those.

I was also given a locking brace that goes from my ankle to my upper thigh. You usually get at the time of surgery, but I got it early so I won’t cause more damage to my knee.

***Note***
I am posting my ACL story after the fact. I decided to do it to help anyone who goes through the same thing as me. I’ll let you know when I am up to date. In reality I am currently 3 weeks post op and doing well.

Having an MRI done is a piece of cake if you’re not claustrophobic or in pain. Luckily I am not claustrophobic. The pain in my knee on the other hand made it slightly harder. Not unbearable, but just harder.

I went to the Cache Valley Specialty Hospital and signed in, a process that should have taken a few minutes but actually took around 20. Why I had to fill out that many forms I will never know.
Why is it that I have to pee a zillion times the second I know I am not going to be able to go to the bathroom for any period of time? I not go to the bathroom for hours at home, but get me in a car and I suddenly need to go.

So I went to the bathroom…

Then I went to the bathroom again… 10 minutes later.

Yeah, I even went one more time…

The MRI technician was a really nice guy. He walked me back to the MRI room and gave me a cupboard to put my purse and stuff in. He locked it and brought the key into the MRI room. Then he took my ipod and made it so I could hear it from the headphones.

I was actually able to wear the clothes I came in because there was not metal on them. I did have to take out my hair barrettes, my ring and my earrings.

The technician had me get on the table and take off my wrap. He then clamped my leg down pretty tightly. Not painful, but just annoying. Especially since I could still not straighten it. He asked if I was comfortable and then started up the machine.

For anyone who hasn’t had an MRI, the MRI machine is kind of like a tunnel. You lay on a table and it takes you through. It uses magnets to somehow create images of your insides. You are in this machine for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. My session was 40 minutes, but I didn’t have to go in all the way. I just had to go in up to my chest, so my head was allowed to be outside. When the machine fired up there was lots of noise and some vibration. Then the machine started making a thumping noise. It would do this for a few minutes, and then it would stop.

You remember how I told the technician I was comfortable? Yeah… that lasted for about 5 minutes.

The next 35 minutes everything on my body decided to itch, and I had to pee again. Yes… again. You are not supposed to move if you didn’t know. Oh, then my hurt knee started to cramp. By the time I was able to get out of the machine I had a massive cramp in my hurt leg.

The technician was very nice through the whole process. He would occasionally tell me how much time was left and ask if I was alright. After it was over he even burned me a disk so I could go home and look at all the images. He also pulled the images up on his computer and showed me different parts of my knee. The bones and veins were creepy.

You know how I had to pee again? The second the machine was done I didn’t have to.

/sigh

Two weeks after my ski accident my knee was still swollen and hurt. I also couldn’t straighten it all the way. I did some research on the internet and decided I must have torn my Meniscus (wrong). I admitted to my husband that I needed to actually go to a doctor and that my knee was really hurt.

How do you choose a doctor though? I had no idea.

I knew of only one person who had recently hurt their knee. The wife of one of my husbands past coworkers named Geena. I emailed her for advice. She gave me the name of her doctor and told me why she chose him. I decided to give him a try.

In hindsight I should have done more research on orthopedic doctors. I should have actually talked with physical therapists about which doctors they would have chosen. I have since learned my doctor is very conservative in the post operative process. He wants no weight bearing for an entire month. That means I have to use crutches and not walk. Other doctors get you on your feet as soon as you feel up to it. Who knows which is better in the long run?

The doctor I chose was Dr. Brad Larsen from Alpine Orthopedic. At my first appointment I actually met with his Nurse Practitioner Lance. They started the appointment by taking an X-ray of my knee from a few different angles.

Lance then manipulated my knee to see if he could tell what was wrong. He then had me do a series of exercises to see what my range of motion and strength was. His opinion was I either had torn my ACL or my Meniscus. Basically the same opinion I had. He pulled up the X-ray and gave me good news in that my bones were not broken. He then scheduled an MRI for later that week.

I left the office without knowing what was wrong. Plus I was going to have to wait for the MRI and then wait for the results. I hate waiting.

I have realized I often utter the question, “Why in the hell do you live in Utah if you don’t ski?” It obviously isn’t for the weather. Freezing cold winters with icy roads and hot as hell summers is the norm. It really can’t be for the seasons either. Spring and fall in Utah last about 2 weeks each. I am be exaggerating, but not by much.

I live in Utah because my parents live here. Otherwise I would live somewhere with a much milder climate. Say… the French Riviera. Pass the wine and cheese anyone?

Skiing in the Rocky Mountains is what makes Utah’s winters bearable to me. We live close to a ski resort, Beaver Mountain, that sells season passes for fairly cheap. I can ski all next year for $270. When an all day pass cost $38 you can see the advantage of getting the season pass. As long as you go around 7 times that season you will save money.

Unfortunately this year skiing was VERY expensive for me. I’ll blog about that after I get all the bills.

January 21st was a nice warm spring skiing day. The type of day that you ski without your coat. Jess and her kids were skiing with me and my family that day. My mother came up to take pictures and to buy me a birthday present, a helmet. Jess and I took a nice long groomer. At the end of the run a guy totally tripped me while on a cat track. He was pulling his teenage daughter along and was taking up almost the entire track. I shouted that I was on his right so I could pass. He looked over his shoulder at me, and then stepped in my direction and planted his pole right between my skis. He totally made me fall. Instead of stopping and helping me he kept going. In the process he stepped on my ski and started dragging it with him. At this point I was basically doing the splits and he was dragging me down the cat track. This is when I started screaming at him to stop. I may have shouted some bad words. Instead of helping me or saying anything to me he just stepped of my ski and kept going.

Bastard.

After I got up I knew I needed to rest. Although I figured I had one more run in me for the day. Jess decided to go to the lodge and rest while Max took the boys up to a black diamond run. I decided to go on my last run of the day.

Big mistake.

I took a nice blue run. My legs were tired because of the jerk who tripped me. Near the end of the run I hit a patch of ice with one leg, and a patch of slush with the other. Next thing I was flying through the air and my left knee killed. I rolled and flipped down the hill. I must have traveled for around 50 to 100 feet. Every time my head hit the ground I was thankful I was wearing a helmet. I was so glad my mom bought it that day. When I finally stopped I wasn’t sure what the damage was. I started taking into account every part of my body. Everything felt fine except my left knee. The first person to the scene of my crash asked me, “Can you feel your legs?” After I told him I could, but that my knee hurt he sighed in relief. Apparently my fall was spectacular. His wife helped me take off my remaining ski after I asked her to help me. I was then able to tell that I had really hurt my knee bad. How bad was really bad? They helped me to stand up, and I didn’t have to scream when I put weight on it. They wanted to get the ski patrol for me, but I declined. Instead I put on my skis and skied slowly to the lodge. There I promptly took off my skis and sat down with my mother and Jess.

When I got home my knee was swollen. I wrapped it up and iced it. I hoped it would get better soon.
A couple of days later I went with my husband to a local rock climbing wall. I need to stress that I wasn’t climbing. While watching him climb someone walked right behind me. The floor is a springboard floor. My knee buckled under me, I felt intense heat and pain, and I felt it pop. The pop most people who tear their ACL hear.

Now I am not sure when I in fact tore my ACL. Was it the year before when I twisted my knee? Was it when the guy tripped me while skiing? Was it my skiing wreck? I’ll never know. I do know that I finished it off at the climbing gym.

I’ve been gone from here for so long. I am sorry. I wish I could say I was so busy that I didn’t have time to write. That would just be a lie. I’ve just had no motivation to write.

Ever since I found out how bad I hurt my knee I’ve become very depressed. I’ve never been what many would consider an “active” person, but I am always doing something. I even try to be an “active” person by making myself go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I was actually proud of myself this winter. I had been consistently running and got up to running 1 1/2 miles three times a week without stopping or slowing down. For me this was HUGE. I have run a 5k before (3.1 miles), but I wasn’t consistent. Right when I got the routine down I got hurt.

Lame.

Literally… Lame.

I then had to live my life with the knowledge that life would get much harder before it got better. I knew I needed surgery, but really didn’t want to go through with it. I hate pain. I am afraid of surgery. Now that I have had surgery I can still say that I hate pain and am afraid of surgery. Go figure. Luckily the pain was much less than I had anticipated.

Just so you all know, I will be writing a lot about my ACL surgery in the next few months. Reading people’s blogs about what they went through helped me a lot, both before my surgery and after. I want to help others as well.