The journey of 2kms begins with 250 meters
Well the saying as they say goes more like: "the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first"
We are not getting younger.
I had hit a wall, nearing 37, I felt my body was starting to let me down, I found that I was putting on weight very easily and to compound it all I could not shake a rheumatic condition that seems to have dogged me since my late teens. This condition was causing swelling in the knees and getting worse, the only remedy seemed to be a visit to the local GP once every 6 months to get the fluid build up out by inserting a syringe in the knees.
At this time I had just started Karate with my daughters and after two terms the rheumatism got the better of me. I had to miss out a term and took to swimming instead, during that period, I could barely do 2-3 lengths of a 50m pool and would feel exhausted. My GP said that things were bad and I would need to see a specialist, the specialist after 2 months of visits and tests said I would need to start taking a particular drug everyday to reduce the build up of fluid in my joints, this drug works by lowering my immunity and the list of side effects was long..
Self healing, taking on the rheumatism head-on
I asked him if I could hold off on the drugs and try and find alternate methods to heal myself. This was the turning point. I think the scare of popping a pill everyday was enough to get my mind in action, I was not going to grow old, I was going to remain young. I started taking fish oil (omega 3) tablets, vitamin B supplements and forced myself to walk every morning, in 3 months the knee pain had gone and I could walk longer faster. I got back into karate and decided to take up running again.
After my first run of 1km, my knee started hurting and I was exhausted. I had to walk back. There had to be another way of doing this. I went back into the pool, I could manage 5 lengths without stopping but would be quite tired and breathless. I mixed up short swims, with walking and karate. I tried to run again this time I managed 3kms and my knees hurt again but there was no swelling, I was still breathless.
Then I started to see a difference, I could easily swim 10 lengths, one day I decided to pace myself and try 20 - laughing to myself that, which was a silly notion I still gave it a go. I did the twenty (1km) and a whole barrier came tumbling down, now I can do 30 without stopping easily.
I kept running but could not do more than 3-4kms without my knee hurting and getting tired, so I stuck to shorter runs.
Glory days :)
Fast forward to August last year, I came back from a month’s holiday in the USA and decided that I am going to sign up for Activ foundation City to Surf in Perth, I had roughly 3 weeks to train and prepare for a 12km run. I entered and did 6kms quite easily, my right knee locked up after this and I hobbled for the next 2kms and ran short bursts for the remainder (in a lot of pain), till the last km, I put on the theme from chariots of fire in my head sprinted the last km shutting out all the pain. I finished my first ever long distance run since I was 17 in 1hr17mins - I hurt for 2 weeks after the run with aches all over, but boy did it feel good! - http://www.supersportimages.com/products/showbib.php?xs=595&s1=23411
I have discovered through trial and error why my knee seems to be hurting, it is probably weak and the impact of how I land my right leg is probably causing it grief. This Christmas I took to running on sand whenever I went to the beach and doing a cool down by swimming in the ocean. I have now started doing distance running on grass purely to strengthen my muscles.
Whilst I do this a couple of people I have been following on twitter have provided me with useful insights and inspiration. I have also started reading up on how to exercise my calf muscles, strengthen my knees and also improve my technique.
My next post will be on the results of my experiments.
Going back to the title of this post, it was a tweet from a friend after I had done my first 250m in the pool, congratulating me and telling me that 2kms is not too far! Now this is what I keep telling everyone.
After reading this I hope it helps others who are on the verge of giving up, to instead persevere, the rewards will come and when they do they will be sweet. I look forward to my morning runs now as much as I look forward to a glass of wine at the end of the day.
Another person that I follow on twitter says in her blog, "If I can do it anyone can". Well I guess it is the same for me!
