In case you weren’t already aware by my lack of wordy race reports, I have been sidelined all season. Lets go through a brief history of my injury, as it’s quite entertaining. I also want to document all of this for future reference, like some strange runner’s science project. Maybe someone can learn from it.

– Late February: While at my Mom’s in Tampa for the Gasparilla Half Marathon (the season opener if you will) I noticed that when I bounce up and down I have a slight pain in my left knee. I run the race anyway, the injury definitely playing a role in my performance.

– I see Dr. D who gets me doing PT. Basic exercises using cables and balancing devices. I stop running.

– I get an X-Ray and MRI, all good aside from my Bipartite Patella. A bipartite patella occurs in 1% of the population. As a child as the pieces of your knee are fusing together, sometimes a small piece doesn’t completely solidify. It is held in place by cartilage and most people would never know they had it unless they had an issue and got an X-ray, case in point.

SIDENOTE: I was signed up for numerous races, the highest caliber being a Marathon, Olympic Tri, Marathon, Ironman and Marathon (in the order) with some smaller races sprinkled in between.

– The pain comes and goes and in late April I run the Connemarathon. We were in a remote part of Ireland so beautiful words cant describe it, I had to. I finish in 3:33:00 (my 9th marathon… weird number stuff) and my knee is really messed up.

– Back to PT with Dr. D and no exercise.

– 6 weeks later he has me bike and slow run. I feel pain after biking and during the runs.

– I race Rev3 Quassy OLY Triathlon. It’s a 10 minute course PR for me ironically. My knee hurt during the run.

– I see Dr. D 2 times a week and thing s are up and down. I change shoes and doing anything I can to help. I race a few local races but still I have pain.

– At the end of August I decide to change it up. I stop seeing Dr. D. and head over to Dr. Levine, who I had seen once before and like every single one of my friend go there. He is an Ironman doctor and uses ART and Graston. The techniques are pain like you have never felt, him digging into your quads and IT band. He tells me not to run unless I have zero pain.

– I start tracking all the Red Tailed Hawks in Central Park instead of running and instantly age myself.

– As my knee starts to get better I bike a few times. Each time after my knee hurts bad. Dr. Levine and I deduce that biking might be the cause of my patella pain so I stop all biking, eliminating my Fall Ironman from happening. At this point I just want to race NYC Marathon, specifically because my little brother Jeff got in.

– 2 weeks ago I run 2 miles with zero pain.

– The next day I run 4 miles with zero pain.

– Last week I run 4 miles with no pain and on Monday of this week it’s zero pain baby!

So my question to all my runner/triathlete friends is… are there any 3 week Marathon training plans for Wineglass? I didnt think so, I will probably be on cheer patrol so those of you running Wineglass look for me.

Ironman is out, by I have renewed hopes of racing my 4th NYC Marathon.

All season many people have gotten an earful, mostly in person, about what I think caused my injury. (Big hug to Abbe as she has heard it most and is so over anything having to do with knees!)  Unfortunately for me, I think it’s my bipartite patella. I think I slammed it or something and weakened the cartilage (this is a common thing for people with weird knees who bike in traffic). Therefore, the cartilage needs to heal. Whatever movement biking does to my IT Band, it seems to pull on my patella in a way that running does not. Who knew? Everyone is always like, “Running is bad for your knees, you should bike.” Then I’m like, “No shit, I’m a triathlete I have to bike.”

I’m really happy. I was in a bit of a depression all season as my favorite thing to do (running AND triathlons) was taken away from me. Now, after learning a whole lot about the human body, I am back and ready to BATTLE.