Post Marathon Blues

Running 26.2 miles is no joke for anyone and while I did complete the marathon just a few minutes shy of my goal of 4 hours, I did not feel a great sense of accomplishment and euphoria like I did when I finished other races. In fact, I remember exactly what was going through my mind when I finished. "I just want to go home." I was spent. I did not have the energy to go look for food, to hang out and watch the band, to cheer on other runners, to get a post race massage, or any of the other fun things that are offered up at these kinds of races. I got my medal, drank some water and Gatorade, and someone handed me some pizza. I slammed down a few bites of cold pizza and then went on my quest to find Melissa.

Before I found Melissa, I caught up with my buddy Jeff who finished a few minutes before me. He looked like I felt. Totally spent, just wanting to go home. He was on the same quest I was. He was looking for his wife. There was a cell phone company there offering runners free calls. We called our wives a bunch of times on their cell phones but the were still near the finish line looking for Jeff to cross the finish line. The finish lines at these types of races are very loud so they did not hear their phones ringing. Somehow they had missed Jeff coming across the line. These things to happen. It happened to me earlier this year at the Richmond 8K. I missed my Melissa coming across the finish line.

We finally did hook up with our wives. We said our goodbyes and headed for the car. There was one big problem though. Our car was parked at the top of sizable hill several blocks away. I was so sore and so out of gas that I was having trouble going up the hill. Actually even before that, I was having trouble lifting my leg to go up the curb. I had to use all my strength to swing my leg and even use my arms to help lift up my foot onto the curb. And then I remembered something I had heard a lot time ago and I decided to turn around and walk backwards up the hill. I could barely move forward but, backwards, I could do pretty well. So I walked backwards up the hill to the car.

Melissa drove me home where I took a hot shower and crawled into bed. I was tired and cold and while hungry could not eat. After warming up in the bed, I was able to eat some snacks. After about an hour or two, I started feeling much better and was relatively back to normal. Sure I could barely go up and down the stairs but I started feeling normal in the rest of my body. I now felt like doing something other than lying in the warm bed and was gearing up for dinner.

Before going to dinner, Melissa and I went to Poor Farm Park to go for a walk. Going for a walk later in the day after completing a marathon is highly recommended. So we went for a walk in one of my favorite parks. Before heading into the woods, I tried to take a couple of strides to see how it would feel. There is one word to describe how those strides felt-bad. In particular, my right knee hurt pretty bad when I tried to jog a few steps. I did not like the feel of that and it was odd that I did not notice the knee aching during those last few steps of the marathon. My quads and my IT band were definitely screaming at the end of the race but my knees did hurt. Or maybe I just did not realize it because of the adrenaline pumping through my body.

As it turns out, I would not be running for quite a while because of this knee pain. In my next installment I will tell you more about my recovery.

Lots of Sweat and Lots of Miles

In January of 2007 I ran my first 15K, the Frostbite 15K here in Richmond. To be honest the only reason I did the race was because Mario was doing it. Mario and I had been playing soccer together for quite some time and he was going to do the Frostbite so I thought I might as well do it also.

Mario ended up not being able to do the race at the last minute. The race was fun and I did well finishing in 1:15. After doing the Frostbite, I decided to do a half marathon. In the spring of 2007 I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in Virginia Beach. I also did well, finishing in just over 1:47.

While running the Shamrock I really started to hurt around mile 9. I remember thinking that there was no way I could run any distances over a half marathon. My quads and IT band were throbbing and burning. One of the things that kept me going was the other runners. If they could do it, I could do it. Also while running at the beginning of the race there was this pacer who was pacing a bunch of younger runners. He was one of those know- it- all guys. He was poo-pooing the Garmin Forerunner training watch which tracks your speed, distance, and pace via GPS. I use the Garmin Forerunner and found it quite useful. This guy was going on about how you can't trust it. I had done some experimenting when I got my Garmin. I compared Google Pedometer, my car odometer, and my Garmin and found that I came up with the same results thereby validating the accuracy of my Garmin. This guy was blah-blah blahing so much that I sped away to get away from him and his group. They did eventually pass me around mile 11 but he did motivate me to run fast for quite a while.

Sometimes during a race I find that mental games can help keep me going when I am tired or hurting. I will spot someone off in the distance in front of me going slightly faster than me or at about the same speed. I use the person as a motivator, dragging me along. Or sometimes I will see somebody with terrible form and think to myself that I can't possibly let them beat me.

For my first ever Half Marathon, I did quite well. I had big kick at the end. Once I saw the finish line and realized I that once I crossed, I could stop and my legs would stop burning, I really stepped it up. I sprinted across the finish line and then walked through the chute collecting my medal and post race water, sports drink, and munchies.

After the Shamrock Half, I did the Monument Ave 10K a few weeks later. My wife also ran the race this year as well as her brother Dave and son Chad. Chad was a high school cross country athlete and would be the fastest in our group. I bettered my time this year. In 2007, I ran the race in 46:05 which was an improvement from last year. Chad and I started in different waves but had we run in the same wave, I would have seen him cross the finish line. He beat me by 15 seconds. It was fun to race with family.

After the Monument Ave 10K, I did not do any races for a while. I went through the summer of 2007 playing summer soccer and in June of that summer, my wife and I did a120 mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian trail. Mario dropped us off one Saturday morning on the north side of the Shenandoah National Park here in Virginia. We backpacked and tented out for the next 7 nights. On the 8th day, we pulled in to Rockfish Gap at noon where Mario picked us up for the drive back to Richmond.

The backpacking trip was amazing. It was a challenge and something that neither my wife nor I had done before. We had done some preparation but no more than a long weekend in the woods before this trip. We saw bears every day, lots of deer, and tons of rabbits on this one part of the trail. My wife had terrible blisters on her feet but still kept chugging along every day. Her feet were a mess but she did not complain. She just kept going. I admire her for her fortitude. The trip was her idea and I am glad she suggested it. She had been inspired by a movie we saw at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. I could probably devote several blog entries to our trip but I am not going to go into detail about the trip right now.

After the backpacking trip, my wife and I went to the beach to visit with her family. At the beach I went for a run. I was going to make it a short run but ended up with about a 6 mile run. I was surprised how good I felt on this run. This run was the run that made me decide to sign up for a full marathon. When I got back to Richmond, I signed up for the Richmond Marathon which was in the fall.

I downloaded a training plan from the Internet which mostly entailed lots of running. I got up at 5AM every morning to put in my mileage before work each day. The summers in Richmond can be very hot and humid so knocking out the runs in the morning was the best way to beat the heat. Plus I was still in the midst of summer soccer which entailed 2 games a week after work. I was still running relatively low mileage during the week so playing some summer soccer on top of the weekly runs was not too big a deal.

About half way through my training for the Richmond Marathon, I did the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. The Rock N Roll events are very well organized. I stayed with my wife's parents down in VA Beach. Unfortunately, the neighbors across the street had a loud party the night before and I only ended up with about 3 hours of sleep and this affected my performance. I still did fairly well but my legs were so very sore throughout the whole race. I ended up with a time of 1:54:49 which was several minutes slower than my first half earlier that year.

It took me a couple of days to recover but then I got back to my training schedule. I was putting in some serious mileage. I had Saturday long runs of 17, 18, and 20 miles. I had run more this year than ever before I think. Looking back, I probably should have included more strength training, hill and speed work. But I was a novice and I was building up some serious endurance.

I completed one more half marathon before the Richmond full Marathon. I ran the Maymont Half Marathon. Part of this course runs on some gravel roads and a little bit of trails. Race day was cool and I was determined to just take it easy and use the race as a training run. I finished in 1:53:18. Interestingly enough, I felt super great after this race. Even though I ran it slightly faster than the Rock N Roll, I was not hurting at all. The temperature was much lower and I had a good night sleep the night before.

In November of 2007 I ran my first full Marathon. It was a slightly drizzly day and not too hot which made for good running. I probably started out too fast. Most first timers make this mistake. The crowds and the bands really motivated me and made me push the pace. I still felt pretty good going across the Lee Bridge which is about mile 16 of the 26.2 mile race. But then around mile 18 or 19, I hit the proverbial wall. My legs were shouting at me to stop. I started to do some walking and stretching. I would walk for minute and then run for a few minutes. I kept this up until near the end where I summoned all my strength and ran that last mile. My face must have told the story of how I was feeling because when my wife saw me, I could see in her face that she could tell that I was hurting. I ended up with a time of 4:04:00. I had wanted to beat 4 hours and was so close. So close yet so far.

In my next installment I will describe what I felt like after the race and how I recovered.

My favorite way to bring in the new year

In 2006 I had done my first ever 10k and my first ever Triathlon which was a difficult race. In the Fall of 2006, I continued to play soccer and ride my bike. As 2006 ended I had not committed to any races in 2007. I knew I would probably do the Monument Avenue 10K again because it was not only fun to race but also training with my church group was fun. Beyond that, I did not really plan any races.

First I had to plan my New Years Day epic adventure. I had started a tradition the previous year of doing a very long bike ride with as many friends as possible. The previous year was just my friend Chris and I. We rode our mountain bikes from my house all the way out to Ashland to Poor Farm Park where there are some good mountain bike trails.

This time around, I had invited a bunch of friends to do the same ride- ride from our friends house out to Poor Farm, ride the trails, and then ride back. I had about 6 people lined up to do the ride. I awoke to the alarm at 6:00 AM on New Years Day. It was pouring rain. I was not sure if we would still be doing the ride or not. I decided that I better plan as if we were so I could be prepared. I ate my bananas and granola and drank my Red Bull. I put on on my riding gear and was pretty much ready to go when the phone rang. It was the first person dropping out. Soon after that call, the phone rang again and another person had dropped out. I called Mario and he was also out. But apparently Bill was up for it. He was on his way to Mario's. So I headed out in the pouring rain to ride over to Mario's house where we would meet and then head out to Poor Farm.

To summarize the ride, it was a great ride. It poured rain the whole time though. Not just drizzle but pouring rain. Bill and I rode hard on the road as if we were in a road race. We had to keep pushing it so we would stay warm. Parts of the road were under water which really slowed us down. When we got to the park, some of the trails were totally under water. We rode for about 45 minutes on the trails before stopping for a quick snack and then making our way back home.

The ride home was tough. Bill lead most of the way. I stayed on his tail so I could draft. The water was spraying off his tire into my face but I did not care. I wanted to stay close to him so the draft from his bike would help me along. There is one word to describe my friend Bill and his biking ability. Bill is a BEAST. He was nice enough to slow down when I fell off the back. We rode back to Mario's, went inside real quick to say hello and then made our way back home. It was a 45 mile ride in the pouring rain. I will never forget it. It was perfectly epic. A great way to start the new year.

Bitten by the bug

Let me apologize up front that this installment is quite long. I am very interested in getting everyone up to date on my story.

After the summer of 2005 I hung up my soccer cleats for the Fall season. My wife and I had planned a fall trip to the Grand Canyon and some other national parks and I wanted to make sure that I did not get injured so I could enjoy the trip. In the fall of 2005 we took our two week vacation with my parents and brother John. We did some great hikes including backpacking down in to the Grand Canyon to Indian Gardens and Plateau Point. After our 2005 trip, we knew that we would have to go back again and do more backpacking in the Grand Canyon. It was a great trip and I could devote several entries to the trip but I feel like I need to move my story along so I can get you all up to date.

In January of 2006, I read about a fellowship opportunity in our church bulletin that sounded like a lot of healthy fun. Each year my church does a 10K training program for the Monument Avenue 10K. Thousands of people participate in the race and there are lots of local training groups that meet to train for the race. After the service I signed up for the training program. After I signed up, I learned that we would be meeting on Saturdays at 7:30AM. That seemed a little early for me but I had signed up so I had to go with it.

I had never run a race of any distance and did not really know what kind of training was required for a 10K. But that did not matter because our church training group had several great coaches. Most of the coaches were marathoners with multiple marathons under their belt including one of the pastors and the church organist. Plus, I was playing soccer on two teams again in the spring season so my 10K training would be complimented by two soccer games each week.

I thought I would have trouble getting motivated that early in the morning on a Saturday but when my alarm when off on that first Saturday at 6:45 AM, I found it pretty easy to get up. I was doing something very new and was excited. We all met at the church and signed up for either the novice, intermediate, or advanced group. I signed up for intermediate. Once we completed our meet and greet and morning devotions, we hit the pavement following the routes that had been planned by Pastor Mark. I ran at the front of the Intermediate group. The route for the Intermediate group was shared with the Advanced group up to a point. When we go to the point where the intermediates were turning around to head back to the church, I decided to keep going with the advanced group.

As it turns out, long distance runners run their long Saturday runs at a pace that is significantly slower than race pace. These long slow distances help to build endurance. All my years of soccer and biking had trained my body pretty well and I could easily run long slow distances. I had no idea that I could do it although it really should not have surprised me. I continued to run with the advanced group every Saturday and I did my weekly runs as prescribed by Pastor Mark.

Joining a training team was great motivator for me. Not only did I have people to run with on Saturday but I felt motivated to put in the mileage so I could hang with these guys each Saturday. The advanced team were all marathoners. Some of them would get up super early on Saturdays and put in many miles before we met to do the 10K training. I looked up to them because they were regular guys with regular full time jobs and families yet they were very fit and seemed to be able to run forever.

Our training continued from the end of January to the end of March. My goal was to beat 1 hour in what would be my first ever 10K. As we approached race day, I realized that I would be able to beat 1 hour with no difficulty at all. I ran the race in 49:07 which translates to just about an 8 minute mile. Running across the finish line with all the people cheering and the bands playing felt great. The months of training in the cold paid off. I had a big kick at the end and felt great after the race.

Melissa met me at the finish to congratulate me. I felt a certain euphoria. It was not the so called "runners high." I had just run 6.2 miles and I think one has to run a great deal more to achieve the "runners high." The euphoria came from a sense of accomplishment. There is something very rewarding in having a very well defined goal, knowing and taking all the steps necessary to achieve that goal, and then reaching the goal. I also love to shovel snow. With snow shoveling, the goal is very well defined and it is easy to tell when the goal has been achieved. Plus it is great exercise.

After this race, it was safe to say I had been bitten by the racing bug. I decided to sign up for another race. This time I was a bit more ambitious. I signed up for the Xterra Sport race which is an off road triathlon that comes to Richmond every summer. In previous years I had watched friends compete in this difficult race and thought I would go ahead and give it a try.

I really had no training program for this race. I had a good running base and I had been biking as much as possible on the course that they used for Xterra. My weakest area was swimming. I know how to swim but I am no Michael Phelps that is for sure. I managed to get a few training swims in and also participated in a clinic down at the river that was course specific. The guy teaching the clinic showed us how to navigate the currents and gave us some very useful tips that would give us a little home field advantage.

The Xterra was both difficult and a blast. It was my first ever triathlon. I arrived early and got my bike setup in the transition zone along with my running gear. These types of races always start with the swim, mostly for safety and logistics. Imagine running and biking many miles and then jumping into a river with fast moving current. Somehow I think that would be a recipe for disaster. The swim part of this race is hard because not only do you have to go cross current several times and do some swimming upstream against the current, there are rocks and other debris to watch out for. There are even some places where you can stand up for a few paces depending on the level of the river.

The gun went off and off we all went in the water. It was almost comical. I swam for as long as I could before I had to tread water and do the doggie paddle while I caught my breath. I felt like I was losing serious ground. I knew I could not win this race by any means but I did not want to be last. We did a wave start based on sex and age group with a 2 minute gap between groups. The women were the last ones to leave the shore. As I did my doggie paddle, the women would catch up to me and pass. I kept trudging along with the mantra, "just keep moving." I did catch a second wind and was able to swim more but I ended up with lots of starts and stops. I made it out of the water to the cheers of Melissa who is my biggest fan and is always there to support me. I ran back to the transition zone, got on the bike and headed for the technical and difficult mountain bike course. I was quite familiar with the course and finished pretty strong. Back at the transition zone, I pounded some sports drink, changed my shoes and headed out for the final leg of the race which was a 5k. I used the same mantra, "just keep moving."

My intent is not to give you a play by play of every race but this race was so difficult and at the same time exhilarating so I thought I would share some of the details. Part of the 5K course goes up what locals call the "Mayan Ruins." The "Mayan Ruins" is actually just about 20 very large steps that go up an embankment. Each step is about 1 to 2 feel high. Most people use their hands to climb up these steps. I did well on this part. I was able to leap up each step and pass several people along the way. The run then continues along the flood wall and eventually makes it way back to Brown's Island.

For my first Tri, I did pretty good. I finished in 1:55. Again I felt a great euphoria when I finished. It was so fun. The course was excellent and I was competing against some great athletes. Granted the pro who won the full distance race did his race in just under 2 hours also. I stuck around to watch him finish. He did twice the distance I did in the same time it took me to do my distance. What a beast.

At this point in my athletic career, I had discovered that racing was a lot of fun. Not quite as fun as soccer but it was different. I looked forward to running and biking knowing that the goal was to do well in races. By the end of 2006, I had done two races. In 2007 I would end up doing even more.

Hardly Working

After I got out of the hospital, I took another week or so off before going back to work. When I got back to the office, I found lots of work waiting for me. I stayed very busy at work during the day but did not really do much in the way of exercise before or after work. I was getting pretty antsy and was ready to do something again. Other than work and eat and sleep that is.

One day my coworker and his brother needed some help down their way. They needed someone with a truck to help them do a leaf and debris cleanup at the neighbor's house across the street from their house. So I drove down to help them out. I have always been good at this type of work and I guess I had a lot of pent up energy because I worked very hard and we got a lot of work done that morning. I felt pretty good. So good in fact that I decided I would go home, get my gear and head out to the soccer field to see if I could get some minutes in the Galaxy game.

I went home, grabbed my stuff and went to the field. I watched most of the first half and then decided I was up for going in to play. As it turns out, despite all the time off and the collapsed lung, I still was in pretty good shape. I had asked to play on the side or up front but they put me in the middle. And I actually held my own. I think I ran more than most of the guys on the team and of course I still had the skill and technique to play well. To be honest it was sort of shameful for the team that I had such an impact on the game. It was fun though.

At this point in my life, I was still not serious about my fitness. I was in good shape but mostly it was because I just did a lot. I biked a lot and I played soccer a lot. I was in shape by default. I did not work to be fit. I certainly did not have the best diet in the world and I did not focus on any fitness goals.

I continued playing soccer the next couple of seasons with Galaxy on Sundays. In addition to playing with Galaxy on Sundays, I started playing with Galaxy Coed during the week. Coed Soccer is really just as competitive as mens soccer but you do have a little more time on the ball which made it even more fun for me. This little bit of extra time on the ball allowed me to contribute even more. It was great fun. Games on Sunday and games on Tuesday nights. I was getting in shape without trying.

Also around this time, I started a new sport. Running. I do a lot of running during soccer games but I had never run long distances. Every year my church does a 10K training team for the Monument Avenue 10K. A 10K is 6.2 miles. Each Saturday morning, we would meet at the church at 7:3o for our group run. During the week, I would run the mileage that our coaches had prescribed for us. Plus I played in the two soccer games every week. I also threw in some mountain bike rides just for some added exercise. Again, I was not really thinking about my fitness or trying to reach any fitness goals. I was just doing it. I had turned into a calorie burning machine.

In my next installment, I will describe how I slowly transitioned from a longtime soccer player to an endurance athlete and my triumphs and tribulations along the way.

Lucky me

My knee had fully recovered and I was ready to play Fall soccer. I was pretty excited. I was feeling good and felt in pretty good shape. I would not say I was in the best shape in my life but I was one of the most fit guys on the team. Probably in the top 5.

So the game started as normal. I was pressuring the defense and the opposing defender was clearing the ball when I stuck out my foot and blocked the ball. After I blocked the ball, the defender had a little bit of extra curricular follow through and kicked me in the chest and down I went, again. It was quite a painful blow to my chest. I would say the pain was a 7 or 8. I was near the sideline so I rolled myself off the field so the game could continue. I sat on the sideline for a while holding my chest. Melissa was at the game and after sitting with me for a few minutes we decided I better go to the doctor. So where did we go. Patients First of course.

Melissa drove me to Patients First where the doctor ordered an X-Ray. Then things started happening that were different than I had experienced before. The attitude and demeanor of nurses and doctors changed. They called me an ambulance.

I was still not totally aware of why I needed an ambulance but I would learn in the back of that ambulance. The EMT in the back of the ambulance asked me what hospital I wanted to go to. I mentioned the nearest hospital I knew about but they decided that was not good enough. So they took me to MCV which has an advanced trauma center. While we barreled down I95 the EMT put an IV into my arm an started a drip of something. And then she said, "Do you know what is going on here?" I guess I shook my head or said "not really" because then she told me. She said, "Well, you have a hole in your lung and air is escaping into your chest cavity. As the air enters in the chest cavity, it will push on your organs including your heart and eventually you will die."

Well that sounded just peachy. I was still in a great deal of pain but I did not feel like I was going to die. She also said, "I might have to stick a hole in your chest." Great, I was feeling better already. NOT!

I arrived at the emergency room and was wheeled past all the poor souls who had walked into the emergency room and who were waiting to be seen by a doctor. I was going straight to the back. I did not pass go and I did not collect $200. Once I got to the back they took all my vitals and hooked me up to an oxygen monitor which is a little sensor they attach to your thumb. The "doctors" examined me and ordered another chest X-Ray. They asked me all sort of questions and I dutifully answered them. Then I sat for a while with nothing happening. I was told a specialist was being called in. Then another "doctor" came in and examined me and asked more questions and then I sat some more.

I have to explain why I put quotes around the word doctor. MCV is a teaching hospital. So while they call everyone doctor, many of these doctors are actually still somewhere in the learning process. Reminds me of a joke. What do you call a medical student who graduates last in his class? Doctor.

So I guess everyone was getting a chance to learn. Plus I think the doctors were confused. They said I had a collapsed lung but I did not have any broken ribs. Plus I was in great shape so my oxygen sensor was showing a high percentage. One lung was enough for sitting on a gurny I guess. This went on for a while. More doctors, more sitting around.

Finally after about 8 hours of sitting there in pain, the doctors suddenly decided I needed to have a chest tube put in immediately. So with no anesthetic they made the incision, jammed in the rib spreaders, and inserted the chest tube. Now this really hurt. I now knew for sure what a pain level of 10 feels like. And I remember the conversation the doctors were having while sewing the tube into me. The one guy was coaching the other guy. "No, you have to loop it up higher. There you go." I half expected them to be looking at the manual as they did the procedure.

After this fun little procedure I was admitted. Have you ever seen those signs around hospitals that read, "Quiet. Hospital Zone." Why bother. They are so noisy on the inside. The worst are the night nurses. While everyone else is trying to sleep which is often difficult because of the uncomfortable conditions (i.e. chest tube sticking out of your body hooked up to suction), the nurses are just carrying on like they are at an outdoor summer picnic.

During the night, when I finally did fall asleep, I would be woken up by a nurse to give me a shot in my stomach. The shots were to prevent blood clots since I was just lying around doing nothing which increasea the chance of clotting. I will never forget these shots. The nurses were instructed to give me the shots in the fatty part of my stomach. Well guess what? I weighed about 140 and did not really have any belly fat. And they always had to say something like "Not much here to work with here" or something light and witty. It got old pretty fast. And they would always say something like, "Ok this won't hurt. It will feel just like a little bee sting." Ok so a bee sting is not the most painful thing in the world but why don't they just say, "this is going to sting a little." I don't like bee stings. Why would they think I would not mind a bee sting?

This all went on for 11 days. Eleven days at MCV for a kick in the chest during an adult amateur soccer game. Who would have guessed. This was a freak accident of course but does show you that soccer can be dangerous. But fun.

After about day 9 in the hospital, I finally started healing up. The treatment for a collapsed lung is to vent the air that escapes from the lung into the chest cavity with a chest tube and suction. The lungs then heal on their own. My lungs were not healing because I had a terrible cold going into the whole ordeal with an accompanying deep cough. The doctors would tell me to cough to see if there was any air in the tube coming out of my chest. Of course with my heavy cough, there was always air in the tube. Finally one day, the actual head trauma doctor (the HIIC-Head Indian In Charge) came in and said, "no more coughing." After that day I started healing.

On my 10th day, the night before I was to get out, Hurricane Isabel struck the Richmond area. Melissa was at the hospital that night and left to go home a little on the late side. She barely made it home in the storm. And when she got home the power was already out. On my discharge day, I went home to no power and a very messy yard. Everyone in the neighborhood was outside cleaning up and accessing damage. I shuffled into the house and left the yard to nature.

After one night in the house with no power, I was just not in the mood. I called my parents in NOVA to see if they had power. They did. Melissa and I drove up there for a few days while I recovered. Having no power is very inconvenient but it was especially not convenient for me since I was so weak and really needed some creature comforts at that point.

We did come back to Richmond after a couple of days. Our power was out for a total of 13 days. It was really a drag at the time. Years later I would go to New Orleans for a Katrina relief trip. I thought I had it bad but compared to those folks, I had it made in the shade.

Before I finish this installment I have to explain the title of this blog. You might not consider me to be lucky. After all, I had just recovered from a knee injury when I got the blow to the chest. But as always, I had Melissa by my side. Melissa always took care of me in my time of need. She came to the hospital every day, spent lots of time with me there, cleaned up the room, brought me food, brought me her walkman and batteries. Even today, she continues to help me through difficult times. Melissa has always made the tough times bearable and the fun times even more fun. I can't imagine life without her. We have built a great marriage based on mutual trust, respect and love. I want to thank her for all the support she has given me in everything I do good or bad. Melissa is my soul mate and I love her dearly.

Thumb Recovery-What is next?

After several weeks of physical therapy, my thumb healed up pretty well. I had to keep working it in order to get my full range of motion back and even today I don't have the full range of motion when compared to my other thumb. But I don't really feel impaired in any way. There is a small piece of metal in there now but it does not register at airport metal detectors and it was not an issue when I had my latest MRI.

We were in the off season so I was doing lots of biking and not playing soccer. My first ride back after thumb surgery was actually pretty difficult. I had not yet fully healed at the time and the rattling of mountain biking did cause some soreness and I did not have full breaking power. But I continued to ride anyway. The doctor had cleared me to ride and play soccer although I am not sure he knew what I meant by mountain biking. When I ride, I ride some pretty rugged trails with lots of roots, rocks, and log jumps. The trails are really the opposite of smooth. But that is what makes it so fun. It is challenging and a great workout. Maybe just a little dangerous. I have had a few wrecks with one minor injury that I described already.

So after a good season of riding, I started playing soccer again. Galaxy had entered a tournament in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a weekend tournament where we were guaranteed at least 3 games depending on how we did. Charleston is a long way to drive for a soccer tournament but the guys said it would be a blast and I had never gone to a tournament like this as an adult so I decided to go for it.

I arrived to the field early and started my long warm-up routine. I always liked to go through a thorough warm up back then. I would jog for about a mile or 2 and then stretch before taking the field to warm up with the ball. After warming up, the game started. It was during the first half of the first game when an opposing player struck the ball the same time as me. We both swung hard at the ball while facing each other, both on the run towards each other. I heard and felt a loud pop and I immediately went down to the ground. I was in serious pain. When doctors and nurses ask you to describe your level of pain, they tell you to rate it from 1 to 10. At this time in my life, I would have called the pain I felt when my knee popped as a 9 or 10.

I was carried off the field and the game continued. This is how soccer is played. If someone gets injured, they must leave the pitch immediately so the game can continue. Luckily there was a trainer at the field. He started icing me right away and gave me a bunch of pills to take. Technically what he did was probably illegal as the meds were probably prescription strength. But I was grateful to the guy for helping me out. He also put me in a pretty hefty knee brace that kept my whole leg straight and kept it from moving at all.

Also lucky for me, my wife Melissa was there to help me deal with my new injury. She helped me shuffle to the car and drove me back to the hotel. I mostly spent the rest of the weekend in the hotel. It was not very fun. I was in pain although it had greatly subsided. I was down to a 3 or 4. Our team bombed out of the tournament and I was more than ready to go home come Sunday.

When I got back to Richmond, I went to Patients First. When the doctor came in to see me, I sort of did a double take. I was getting older so it was only natural that my doctors would eventually be younger than me. However, this kid was so young. Was he older than Doogie Houser? A little bit. He gave me a quick, less than thorough exam and thought I would be fine if I just stayed off of it. I guess I can't really complain. I was an adult with no real primary care physician. I simply went to Patients First when I got sick or hurt. When I went for my thumb, an Xray showed my broken thumb and they sent me to the experts. This time around, it did not work out as well.

Back then, my insurance would not allow me to go to a specialist without a referral. Since the "doctor" at Patients First did not give me a referral, there was not much else I could do. I limped around in discomfort for quite some time. Then, I got what I consider lucky. My insurance changed and I no longer needed a referral to go see a specialist. So I went to Advanced Orthopedics and saw Dr. Higgs. He examined me and told me that my knee joint was loose and ordered an MRI.

The results of the MRI showed that I had torn my Medial Collateral Ligament in my right knee. Well no wonder it hurt so much. But the good news was that I did not need surgery. The treatment for this injury used to be surgery but recent research showed that not doing surgery was actually better. Dr Higgs gave me a knee brace and said I could play soccer. Some of my friends commented that he was basically saying, "Come back when it is expensive." So as always, I did what the doctor ordered. I wore the brace and started working out again. It was summer so there was plenty of sunshine and opportunity to ride, run, and workout with the soccer ball.

As the fall season approached, I was feeling pretty good and looked forward to the fist game of the season. Despite the knee injury, I was still in good condition. I have so much fun playing soccer. Soccer is competitive, difficult, and great exercise. Soccer players have to have speed, agility, quick thinking, and a strong heart and lungs. I had all of these things plus the skill necessary to play well and I really defined myself as a soccer player in these days. So despite the injuries, I was not going to stop playing.

Thanks for reading. Next time I will tell you about something that happened during my first game back after recovering from my knee injury.