Well after 6 years the Old Fellow made it to his doctor, and boy was he nervous. He is a good doctor, who is a male only doctor, but also “no nonsense, make sure you are there for a good reason, otherwise don’t bother wasting my time” type… a guy. But he is also an advocate for healthy lifestyles, eating healthy and staying fit to keep us away from seeing the doctor in the 1st place! (which I do like) So when he walked in, and gave that dreaded question, “Why are you here?”, everything came flooding out. “Sir I am very, very sorry to trouble you, and I don’t want to waste your time, you see I havn’t run in 35 years, and I am training for this half-marathon, and I took my knee out while training, I have been resting it, stretching and rehabbing it, but the marathon is only now 8 weeks away, and I really need you to look at it and give me your professional opinion of what I should do!!!!” WELLLLL…..it seems that the word “marathon” hit a soft spot, and I had his FULL attention. After checking the knee over and asking about pain tolerances in different parts (still some swelling and tenderness in the lliotibial band) I was commended for resting it and doing lots of stretches (thank you also to my tri-athlete friend Matt for your timely advice), I was asked a question in my own ball court, “Do I feel ready?” and I blurted out “YES”!!!! My doc also sent me out for an electrocardiogram, “just to be safe”. You see my dad died at 47 of a massive heart attack, and you often hear stories of marathon runners dropping dead, usually of a pre-existing condition they might not have known.
My doctor had a LOT of questions for me while I was there….even “do I have a good pair of shoes?” But his final question really took me by surprise, “Are you going to keep running after this marathon?”. (with all this pain I had, my goal was to just get Oct. 20th over with, and the “Old Fellow Goes Running” would be retiring his runners). Before I could even answer he said, “You should, because the healthiest and fittest people I know are all marathoners!!!”….and that was my trip to the doctor!!!
It took me 2 days to have the courage to follow through on that bold “YES” I gave my doctor. Not only was I nervous, I was downright SCARED…. that the pain would come back ripping through the knee, and it would be over. I biked an aggressive 10 kms., came home and stretched like crazy, laced on the sneakers and with a goal of 2 kms., I headed out. No pain, just mild discomfort, the same on both knees, and ended up doing 6.6 kms in total……from my house to the bottom of the hill on Scarlet Line, and back home again.
Thank you for taking the time to read another LOOOONG discourse. You may not realize it, but each one of you are an incredibly HUGE support for me. When I was running today, you were all running with me, cheering me on…..and I want to THANK YOU!!!
God bless…enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!
The Old Fellow
Doctor image via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
Cartoon image via http://www.cartoonstock.com/
theoldfellowgoesrunning 
Leave a Reply