I'm a triathlete and I have an injury to prove it!

So this is a little late. It's been over two months since Joey and I swam/biked/ran the Utah Summer Games Triathlon. But I'm here to say now I finished... and I wasn't last. Those were basically my only two goals. However I guess I thought I might be somewhere in the middle of the bottom half. I've gotta set my sights higher next time. I wasn't last...but only barely ahead of the 72 year old woman that was! Kidding...there was also a 50 year old behind me too. (((Sigh))) Oh well. I did have big plans to do another one in the fall and improve on my times. I had all sorts of plans in place. I was going to do the Cedar City Relay race that is coming up this weekend with a group of 5 girls from my ward. Then in September Cedar City is hosting a 1/2 marathon and I was going to do that. I even had a 12 week training plan. I was going to become a runner over the summer. I was so excited. Not that I really love running, because I don't. But I love the idea of being an athlete and being in better health. The week after the race I even jumped right back in at the gym.

But my knee wouldn't stop hurting. So I decided to give it a rest at the gym. And it still didn't stop hurting. After a few weeks I went to the doctor. He told me that I might have a small tear, but that the main problem was likely patellar femoral syndrome. So he sent me to physical therapy to learn exercises to improve my knee functioning and told me to come back in four weeks if it didn't stop hurting. Of course I put off going to PT for a few weeks because I'm so dang busy and it's expensive. Even with insurance it costs me $25 a pop. So I was hoping it would just go away. Well it didn't and I finally broke down and went to physical therapy. Two weeks and $150 later and my knee was worse than ever. The doc agreed to send me over for an MRI.

And not only do I have a torn meniscus (cartilage in the outside part of the knee), but I also have damage to the joint - which the surgeon informed me is a type of arthritis and that my knee will probably always bother me. Fabulous. So anyway, now I get knee surgery. Depending on what they find when they get in there the recovery will be 2 - 4 weeks or 4 - 6 weeks. But they won't know which until the actual surgery. Most like it will be the shorter recovery...here's hoping!

So surgery was scheduled for this week, but Joey's really busy at work. So it's set for the 8th and he should be able to take at least a few days off then. In the meantime I will survive. It really stinks. It hurts to bend down. I can't put any pressure on that leg to stand up (so my left leg is getting really strong ;). I can't plant my foot and turn. I can't run, I can't play soccer with my kids. When I sit or bend my leg for more than a minute it gets all stiff and painful when I do stand up. The worst pain has come when the dog has pushed up against the side of my leg. But I can walk without pain and so that's a blessing.

As a side note (and back to the point) I'm including the nitty gritty details of the race. For posterity sake. You really don't have to look at them. It's kind of embarrassing. But here it is anyway.

Joey and I did the Sprint length. It was a 1/2 mile swim in open water at Sand Hollow, a 14 mile bike and a 5K run. Going into it I was pretty confident I could complete all that in 2 hours. I did that length of swim earlier in the week in 30 minutes at the pool, the bike would probably take me 40 minutes or so and I could do the run in 30 minutes. Two hours still left me time for transitions and such. And I did better than I thought I would last year when we did the "mini" one at SUU, completing a 3 mile run and 12 mile bike (or was it 10?) in under 30 minutes each. My swim was slow, but I've improved a bit so I figured my expectations were realistic. I did it in 2 hours and 22 minutes. Joe did his in 1 hour and 54 minutes. Just for the record, it was a lot harder than the mini one at SUU, even though it wasn't THAT much longer. SUU's was a 3 mile run, 10 mile bike and 1/4 mile swim. I did that one in an hour and 15 minutes. But the bright side is if I ever get my knee working right again there is a TON of room for improvement...ha ha!