knee, barkley and hope

part of getting what you want is knowing what you have to give up to get it.

knee news: right now the knee still hurts. last week after two week of no running i had a great trail run, 3 miles of pretty pain free running. i got very excited and even spoke of "being back". of course the next day i pushed by adding a couple more miles and a climb... and guess what happened? setback #3 began and the knee was hurt again. it got progressively worse as i taught spin class three nights in a row. then a 50 mile ride on saturday pushed it over the top... again. if it weren't for being able to draft neil and justin i would have finished hours later.

my adv race teammate glenn had a very similar injury in his it band.
so i saw physical therapist neil goldberg today. he thinks it's a bone bruise. since the ligaments and it band run over this bruise they irritate it when i'm active. so he said no biking, and no running for the next 9 days while i'm in california for sea otter and a san fran visit. it is going to kill me to be at sea otter watching the adventure race and all those bike races and not be racing.

i have an overwhelming feeling that i won't be ready for big horn 100 . the list of races that i've missed because of this damn knee was getting long..

• chuckanut 50k
• baja travesia expedition adventure race
• sea otter classic adventure race
• capitol peak 50 miler

as depressing as this might seem i am hopeful. i now know what the issue is. if left alone bone bruises can apparently can take months to heal. i have to focus on getting better. this means i might miss a bunch more races and lose a good deal of fitness as well. that is ok.. i just need to get healthy.

ultra news - once again no one completed the barkley marathon. only six people ever have and i intend to add my name to that list at some point in my life.