The Knee

Most of my casual encounters over the past several months have gone something like this:

"Hey Harlow, how's it going?"

"Doing well."

"How's The Knee?"

"Doing well."

Since my right knee popped while playing basketball last December, it's gone third-person.  

A healthy body is a beautiful thing.   When all the pieces are finely tuned and working in symphony, even the difficult and challenging stuff can come to feel ordinary.  The mind is only subconsciously aware of what's going on.

An injury shatters that natural rhythm. Suddenly, instead of the body functioning as the sum of all its parts, the injured piece becomes its own entity.   You become aware of of it while doing even the most mundane tasks.  And it goes third-person.  In my case,  "The Knee".

Post Op (black dots are holes drilled through patella)

Patrick and I decided we were "all in" for the Transalpine last fall.  When The Knee popped I figured it would recover with a couple weeks rest.  Nope.  By the time I discovered I had had torn patella cartilage and had surgery in February, my right quad had withered from two months of atrophy. 

We needed to decide whether or not to make a financial commitment to doing the Transalpine.  "I really want to do this," I told Patrick, "But I don't want to screw you over by not being healthy enough to race by September."   I was also concerned about my father and his wife paying for tickets to travel over and be our support crew.  I opened the door for him to sign on with someone else.  There was still time and plenty of interested candidates.  This is when Patrick reminded me that we were "all in" and gave me the vote of confidence. 

Since then me and The Knee have been hard at it. 

I pushed too hard too early and The Knee rebelled.  Every time I had a setback, I was out of the running shoes and back to the bike trainer and StairMaster. By May, I was finally logging some mileage. But they were slow flat miles.  And not very many of them. My right quad still looked pathetic.  And our date with the Transalpine was approaching way too fast.

I received great support.   Louis Mass, who owns Elite Sports Performance gym, is a hockey coach  who has seen his share of knee injuries.  He knew just how to push me and The Knee to edge but not over.  John Polonowski at United Physical Therapy prescribed all kinds of great strength-building remedies.  And my doc, John Lapkass had the  skilled hands and the thoughtfulness to talk me through the details of the injury.  He also instilled in me the belief that I could get this done and get back in in the game.  I asked him about my odds of being race-ready by September and described how epic and demanding the Transalpine was going to be.  "I think you can," he said. "Just make sure you bring a lot of Ibuprofen."  It was later, after the operation, that I found out Dr. Lapkass is also known as the Jedi of Pain for his ability to overcome an array of brutal injuries while competing in the  grueling Alaska Wilderness Classic every year.  

And I owe much to Patrick.  It would have been safe to "break up the band" and go with a healthy replacement.  I would have respected that decision.  Patrick never entertained the notion.

Slowly and surely the training hours ramped up.   But there have been doubts. In July as I watched Mount Marathon (the grandfather of Alaskan mountain running) I cringed to watch the guys running down the side of the mountain and knew I wasn't up for that kind of beating yet. I had a long way to go to be ready for the TAR, where there is about 50,000 feet of descent over 8 days.

But The Knee has been up to the challenge.  I'm not so sure there is a silver lining to being injured.  But the healing experience is rewarding.  What I discovered is that if I gave The Knee just a little respect and time to rest, it was up for a little more each week.  I've also learned that my resolve sharpens with an injury.  I've heard stories of athletes bouncing back from an injury to be stronger than before the injury and I understand that now. 

The quad is back and I'm running stronger every day.   Last week, Patrick and I capped off a week of more than 100 miles and some 20,000 vertical feet with the 38 mile Ressurection Pass trail. 

"How's The Knee?" Patrick asked as we did an ice bath in Ressurection Pass.

I realized, the knee really did feel good.
 
"The Knee" is about to ready to be "the knee" again.