mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X-treme Sports and X-treme Personality Quirks Never, ever put a teaser along the lines of "This week, two psychical therapy appointments (which I will elaborate on at a later date)" in a journal entry. It will only elicit calls from every member of your family and all of your friends who are all worried that you are in far worse pain than you actually are. I am fine, really. I am stupid but I am fine. Here is something you may not know about me, I have to do everything to excess or not at all. For example, I'm either super social with a full dance card or a complete recluse, lying in bed, surrounded by piles of books, with the covers pulled up to my chin. I'm either eating healthy and 100% organic or I'm stuffing my face with Tim's seasalt and vinegar chips. I can't smoke a single casual cigarette in the company of friends, I have to smoke till there are no more left in the pack (which usually belongs to someone else since I don't *really* smoke). If I like a CD, I play it till my ears bleed. Then one day I wake up sick of the band and never listen to them again. In other words, I have a very extreme personality or possibly a manic disorder, you decide. So anyway, I started running and as with anything I do, I took it to the limit. Rather than be rational and slowly increase my mileage, I went from running two miles or three miles a day, three times a week to running five miles a day, five or six times a week. Now if you read any fitness magazine or even have a vague idea about exercise, or are simply a logical, well balanced person, you'll know leaps like this are harmful and cause great stress to your body. People (Pete) told me to slow down, to take it easy, but I would just shout "I'm hardcore! I'm so hardcore!" and sprint off. And then my knee started hurting. Most sane people would stop running for a day or two, rest the knee but not me. No, remember I am hardcore. About two weeks after the initial pain in my knee began, I became crippled and practically unable to walk. And at this point I realized I would have to see a doctor. See, yet another extreme. Do not seek medical treatment till you are completely incapacitated. Very smart. But I had another reason I was avoiding getting help. I was afraid that the physician would tell me I couldn't run the triathlon I've been training for and I knew that would completely devastate me. The morning of my appointment, I was in tears. I tried not to think about all the training I had been putting in and just how unfair this all was. I had sort of written off the triathlon already (more extreme behavior). By the time I actually met with my doctor I was bursting at the seams. "Doctor," I cried "Please level with me. Will I still be able to run the triathlon?" He looked at me thoughtfully and said "I can't really answer that till I see your knee." Oh yeah, guess I actually need to get examined first. To make a long and boring story short, my doctor referred me to a physical therapist who quickly identified that the problem, which is actually in my hip but is manifesting itself in my knee due to the way I have shifted my weight. He then moved my legs around a bit, massaged a few major muscle groups, hit me with some electrodes, gave me a few new exercises to do, and told me to run like wind. Well, not exactly but he did say the triathlon should be no problem. Woo hoo! I have a few follow up appointments but I feel so much better already and I'm trying to make a conscious effort to ease up on the extremes. And I'm siked that I now have bragging rights because RDG told me you're not a true athlete till you get a sports injury. Oh yeah, who's your daddy.... I mean athlete? 10:57 a.m. - 2004-07-09 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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