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Oim Beck
Gosh what a long time between drinks...
Latest news from the southern extremities of the civilised antipodes is, well, not especially good. My doctor has confidentally asserted that recent pains in the knees are signs of irreversible joint degradation, and a weird crinkling noise (easily audible but not felt) from my left kneecap is the cartilage starting to break down. He cheerily asserts that I need to run only on soft surfaces, and not too often, take anti-inflammatories to ease the pain, "truckloads" of glucosmine and look forward to other ailments as I get "even older" (he's "even younger" than me ... bastard).
Consequently, I am no longer confident about running. The crinkling cartilage, whilst not painful, makes a really disconcertingly loud crinkling noise, as if made of cellophane, immediately after a run, and is very off-putting. One to two days later the deep pains within the knees let me know that the bone is not in great shape either.
My cheerful doctor says "there's nothing that can be done about it", and noting my father's titanium knees and my older brother's on-going knee complaints further says "It's clearly genetic and I think you can look forward to artificial knees somewhere down the track".
Heavy sigh.
So, rather than running heaps, I've been taking to the wilderness areas down here and doing lots of long, tough bushwalks. That way I get the adrenalin, endorphins, fresh air and scenery, as well as getting away from bloody doctors (and other sources of great stress such as the cricket) for a bit.
Still, this all sounds like self-pitying whingeing, which is not the intent.
Oh, alright, maybe there IS a but of that in there... the main problem though with having a gilt-edged excuse like that is that one tends to use it. Typical scenario:
Thinks: "Hmm, shall I go for a run?"
Excuse generator: "No, the doc said your knees were dying. Why not have a beer instead?"
Thinks: "OK".
Mmmm, beer. Beer is good for the knees. Unless you fall over of course.
With spring nearly upon us down here, maybe I'll yield to temptation and get out for a few more runs yet. The more runners I see out there, the more wistful I get. I'm missing it!
Catch you all in the other forums.
Cheers,
MLC Man.
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Oim Beck
