Back in the day

If you all have been reading this blog since the beginning, all three posts worth, you'll know that I was talking about getting on my bike and taking off down the road to a different me. There were lots of fits and starts along the way. I won't claim I jumped on my Allez and rode every day since then, on and on. I've stayed on it more than I've been off it, which for me is quite an accomplishment.

Actual proof of my running past.

I had been a runner in my 20's. I ran a lot, I ran everywhere. I actually ran on the morning I married my wife with my best man while the usher rode his bike with us. I'll never forget that run or the rest of the day. I was fond of wearing purple lycra tights and chose to wear them that morning. As we were finishing the run my soon to be, make that very soon to be, in-laws drove up in their car. I walked over and chatted with them about the beautiful morning, the run I'd just completed, and the soon to be nuptials. As we finished our chat and they drove off I turned around to find my best man and usher chuckling. When I asked him what was so funny he simply pointed at my crotch. I had been sweating quite a bit during the run and that, combined with the lycra...well, I'll let you figure it out.

I have no idea when I was #87.

Being a runner is a challenge for me. Anyone who knows me knows I have bad knees. Actually, calling my knees bad is a true injustice to folks with bad knees. Mine are so much worse than bad, they need a new category. I've had three knee operations over the years beginning in the mid-seventies (the dark ages of knee surgery) and ending with a patellectomy a while back. My left knee is actually kinda square shaped after all the work. I'll spare you a picture of the Frankenstein knee for the faint of heart. Clearly, being a runner takes me somewhere out past insane to most folks given my knees.

When I ran all the time I developed my own style that allowed me to run miles each week given my “special” situation. I used a short choppy stride that took pressure off my knees and allowed me to move it on down the road. I was a forefoot lander way before it was cool or trendy to be one just because my body had learned to run that way all on it's own. While merrily running my own happy way I had a friend who was a coach who offered to “help me” with a little personal coaching. This person noticed that despite our large difference in leg length, we had the same stride length. My coach had me lengthen my stride and start to land on my heels. Well, that was the beginning of the end to my running for years. I could have realized that perhaps the “coaching” was the root of my constant injuries every time I started running again. Well, I ain't that smart. I just kinda accepted my knees and gave up on running. It would take a book, yes kids, the real paper kind to get me off my ass and back into running shoes.

 

Did you ever take advice from a coach you probably should have ignored?

If you have knees do you think they're worse than mine?

Have you ever worn lycra when you probably shouldn't? (No Walmart stories please!)