Return to Running: Training Wheels On!

I was grounded on July 17, 2008. The cartilage was smashed and the bone, cracked and bruise. It was not pretty. My knee was busted. It was the "best" kind of knee injury to have, according to the orthopedic surgeon, because there was no surgery required...but recovery would take a while.

Runners taunted me. Everywhere. They wern't nice about it. On cooler, sunny days, they'd mock me on the sides of road, coming close to my car, almost to intentionally point out that they were running and I was not. It was like I was dumped, and my ex kept showing up wherever I went with a new special someone, just to remind me that I was no longer with him.

March 1 was my goal. I counted the days at one point: 101 long days of nothing faster than walking.

But yesterday, I was happily surprised. I went to my normal physical therapy appointment, and Kate was waiting with a follow-up evaluation. It was scheduled months ago, but I forgot. I thought it would be the familiar variety of strengthening and cardio, mostly on a bike, of course, and nothing more.

A little caught off guard, I was happy. She pinched my knee cap in a place that used to make my whole leg jerk with pain. Then the little gadget testing balance came out of the black box. She tried to knock me over - and did - but it took a little more force than in previous months. Next was the squats. Only weeks ago, I wobbled so much that it was clear my right side was weaker than the left. The jump test that followed was new. 69 cm on one leg, my left leg. Could I jump as far on my right? That would indicate that it was back to normal. I jumped. And fumbled the landing. The marker telling me how far I went on the left side got in the way. So I tried again. This time, I had a tiny extra hop at the end. The judges wanted to lower my score. But I asked for one more attempt: 68 inches. Success! And so, finally, it was on to the treadmill. I was used to this, but typically only for walking or with the harness that lifted me up by a crane, removing weight-baring pressure from my knee. This time it was different: she had me run at FWB, Full Body Weight. It didn't hurt. We both expected it to, and so I ran a few more minutes. Eight total, and it never hurt.

As we both wondered if this was a fluke, Kate, my phenomenal PT, handed me the Return to Running plan anyway, with words of caution not to push it too hard. An appointment next week to set up an Independent Training Program - or ITP - was scheduled, as well as a follow up in March.

It's like running with training wheels. This week, 2-3 three times, I'm allowed to start with running two minutes and walking for three - repeat four times. It slowly progresses over the next 12 weeks, and eventually, I'll be up to 20 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking - repeat twice. And in a few, short months, running and I will be back together again. Oh, how I miss thee...