My Inspirational - I Hope - NSV.

About 11 and a half years ago I dislocated one of my kneecaps. About a month later, I dislocated my other. For 11 years, with more dislocations than I can count, several orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists told me I would never run again without surgery. I stopped playing soccer, I stopped running (not that I was ever good at it, but it kept me out of trouble, y'know?), I got anxious, depressed, fat...

Ok, stupid background story over! On to the encouraging inspiration/NSV part!

On September 10th I decided to try the C25k program, just for kicks. I honestly thought I'd wind up with yet another dislocation, but meh, it was worth a try. Surprisingly, it was pretty easy, so after week 2 I made another stupid decision, and decided to see how far I could run without stopping. I made it almost 2 miles. Hm. Interesting. Stupid decision #3: I signed up for a 5k to be held on October 15. :noway:

Fast forward to today: Only 34 days of training, a few super ugly blisters (no blood, so blisters will have to do), a TON of sweat, and yes, a few tears (joy, pride, blisters that felt like razor blades cutting the bottom of my feet, excruciating knee cramps at night sometimes), and today I ran a 5k. My goal was simple: to finish without walking unless absolutely necessary. All I wanted to do was cross the finish line, having run the whole 3.1 miles, and not cross it on a stretcher with two knee immobilizers on (I'm dead serious when I say that, too :laugh: ). I DID run the whole thing, and when I saw the sign with the big green 3 on it, something snapped in my head and I sprinted, as fast as my tired little legs could take me, the last tenth of a mile to the finish line, fueled by people screaming, “WAY TO FINISH STRONG, 144!!!” It took me about 41 minutes. Would have taken a bit less if there weren't several big hills that I had to run up. For a couple of them, I probably would have been able to go faster if I walked instead of running, but I was determined! And....... I wasn't dead last!!!!

I have to run with a patella stabilizer on one knee and an Ace bandage on the other. I'm pretty slow. But, I'm running. If I, someone with a chronic knee injury, can do this, anyone can do this. I set my mind to it, and I accomplished it. And hey, you know what? My next goal is to try the Bridge to 10k program. No rush, I just want to give it a shot

I'm done with excuses. I'm done letting my condition hold me back. I'm done playing the victim. I'm done having a defeatist attitude toward my physical health because of my stupid knees. I now try to figure out ways to accommodate myself in situations where I can't do everything like I'm supposed to, like in Zumba classes. I do what I can do, because something is better than nothing. Like the saying goes, "No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everyone on the couch"

Here's me before the race, trying hard not to freeze to death! My roommate tried to get one of me crossing the finish line, but it didn’t come out. I can't believe I managed to do this. I never thought I'd be running again, let alone running an entire 5k! :bigsmile: