Monday, March 15, 2010

Knees on the Piste

If you come here regularly, you'd be forgiven for thinking I've stopped running.

Happily, this is not so - I'm just struggling a little to describe each and every run in an exciting new way for you - hardly surprising, as 3 miles on local sidewalks before it gets light is hardly the stuff that Olympic dreams are made of. In addition, I'm feeling the pressure in other areas of my life, so a blow-by-blow account of every trot around the block is not viable right now. I am, however, logging updates at Daily Mile which is a tool you might like to check out, if you're not already recording your workouts anywhere else.

I started this blog pretty much as a running diary and while I'm delighted to have a small band of followers and commenters, I won't be at all offended if you float off in favor of more inspirational fitness blogs.

Still here? Oh, OK, I guess I'll update you then. The last couple of weeks have consisted of some basic, short runs; usually I get to about 5 or 6 miles before having a discussion with my knee about whether it's happy and whether I'm imagining any discomfort. It has every right to be grumpy, since not one but two skiing weekends are in the plan for March, and I've always found parallel turns (or any type of turn, for that matter) to be pretty punishing on the patellas.

I took it very easy on our recent trip to Northstar and frankly I'm not sure how much skiing I'll be doing next time we go. Beloved Husband, meanwhile, whose knees are not much better than mine right now, seems to be enjoying bruising his ribs on his inevitable snowboarding falls and is probably doing his joints lasting damage as he gets the hang of carve turns.

This snow-shaped craziness can be solely attributed to our impetuous purchase of cheap-rate season tickets last Fall, back in those innocent days before I realized my body could and would let me down regarding sporting pursuits. It's probably the last time I'll commit to any physical activity months in advance, and could make for a very depressing posting if I allowed myself to dwell on that thought.

So instead, I'm going to keep on trotting (hey, I'm already doing quarter marathons, right?) and will be doing some serious research into the medicinal merits of waffles and hot chocolate at 8,000 feet.

Photo thanks: Marmit

7 comments:

  1. waffles and hot chocolate sounds sooooo good right now....

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  2. Oh- and I will definitely be using you as my tour resource across Europe if and when that ever happens!

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  3. Even though I lived in Salt Lake City, 20 minutes from 4-5 ski resorts, I'm not a big skier; I'm just too chicken. I enjoyed cross-country a couple of times, but even the little hills on a golf course scare me - how pathetic can you get? I had a great aerobics instructor in OKC who wore a brace around her knee. She injured herself skiing and said she couldn't believe she'd put her livelihood at risk that way. That thought has stuck with me for 20 years, though I've never needed my knees to make a living (sounds vaguely rude, doesn't it?) I wouldn't count giving up skiing to be any sort of sacrifice, though I do appreciate that if you're good at it, this would be sad. Chocolate and waffles would definitely be needed to make up for any losses.

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  4. I am always amazed at runners!! Thanks so much for the nicey you left on my blog :)

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  5. I have wanted to start a running (jogging) routine. I think I will need two or three good sports bras :) I love the word PISTE. Very European!

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  6. My mom's knees are totally wasted. She has rheumatois arthritis w/ lupus. 20 years of running in the military & genetics. Crazy. Please take care of yourself 1st & foremost. And I'm totally jealous of your trip!! The link you provided has beautiful pics of the place.

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