Sunday morning at the gym

Sunday 12/27/09 – 314 days. I went to the gym this morning to run on the treadmill. I know I should be running outdoors but it’s cold. 5.20 miles in 74 minutes….I walked for 5 minutes ran for 35 walked another 5 ran more, you get it. Yikes, I keep this up and it’ll take me days to complete a marathon. And am I running or jogging or walking really fast?
The treadmills are on a balcony overlooking the weight machines so I was mildly entertained. Not many ‘Yo Bros’ on a Sunday morning. I got to watch men my age working out. Most are trying to keep a step ahead; I understand that, I’m doing the same thing. It’s the grown men who think they are still in their 20’s and 30’s and wear ‘work out’ clothes from the 80’s that are entertaining. A guy was wearing a cut off type sweatshirt with a string tee shirt; the movie Flashdance came to mind and ocean pacific pants…remember the colorful ones. I just wanted to have a word with him.
5.2 miles wasn't easy, I’m hoping that gets better. My knee held up fairly well.
In 2000 I had an Iliotibial Band (ITB) release on my left knee at the Hospital for Special Surgery. I had the same surgery on my right knee a couple of years prior and it was successful. This surgery was also successful, for about 3 weeks. I was at work, walking in the office, when I heard a pop in my left knee and a sizzzzz sound. I looked down and saw my knee swelling to the point that it was stretching my pants. My leg gave out and someone in the office caught me. Childbirth was a walk in the park compared to the pain I felt. A blood vessel burst in my knee; the doctor called it a hematoma. He inserted a really long needle to remove some of the blood. It took months to heal. I saw my really cute ortho surgeon way too often during those months. He looked over the surgical notes to try and figure out why and why so many weeks after surgery. To this day he believes it was the Vioxx he prescribed. He even called the manufacture to discuss it. My knee never fully recovered from that incident. It was pain I learned to live with. I couldn’t run though. Over the years I would go to the doc and he would inject cortisone and then finally in November 2008 I had surgery to remove quite a bit of scar tissue. I still have some pain and in October had another cortisone injection. It’s certainly better than before and I’m hopeful it will continue to improve.
I’m very open to training tips from experienced marathon runners. I just want to cross the finish line while there are still people around!