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So I went jogging today for the first time in almost 4 years… See, I played hockey in high school and I ran about 3 miles every other day… Then when my season was out and I graduated… Summer kicked in and I had no desire to do anything but relax and prepare for college…. exercise was an afterthought.  Apparently this is rather unhealthy for you… Not just the lack of exercise, but the transitioning from extreme amounts of body activity (jogging, hockey, working out) to none.  My left knee (by the end of summer) was really acting sucky.  I can’t bend it and leave it bent for more than about 5 minutes before it really starts to hurt.  Pressure builds up and when I extend my leg it pops loudly and is fine again.

This whole process is rather annoying when you live it out… things you don’t think of REALLY become issues… for example, sitting in movie theaters is a problem since I need to expand my leg all the way every now and then, driving can be uncomfortable in smaller cars, sitting at tables is always annoying cuz everyone thinks I’m trying to play footsie with them… So after a few odd looks and always sitting in aisle seats… you get the picture… it’s annoying!

This continued for a few months before I decided to see a doctor about it.  The doctor sent me to an orthopedic specialist who looked at it, took x-rays, , gave me anti-inflamitory pills, took an MRI, and sent me to physical therapy.  After about 6 months of this, I was no better off than when I began.  So I decided that medicine and doctors weren’t doing much for me other than taking time and money… especially after I went BACK to the orthopedic specialist and he told me to just let it rest.  Ok… now what?  Well… let it ride.  So here I am almost 4 years later and still no different…. rest isn’t helping.  So what’s MY solution?  Stretch it out and get running again… lets see if we can’t get this thing back to normal…

The hard part about starting to run again after not running for nearly 4 years… is that I’m so unbelievably out of shape that it is pathetic.  I ran a mile today and had to walk about a 1/4 of it so I didn’t pass out…. Physiologically every person has a different rate at which their body can absorb oxygen into their bloodstream.  Mine is rather low.  There is nothing I can do to speed this up or to change it, so I spend most of my jogging speed at a rather low pace… This is just a fact of nature.  The thing that CAN be improved is my lung capacity.  Avid joggers have 20-30% larger lungs than non-joggers.  That extra capacity is exactly what I need to get me running without feeling like a lead weight is around my waist (AND to hopefully lose those extra 25 pounds I’ve gained since my glory days in hockey)…

So back on the topic of running… I started out with some stretching and realized how much flexibility I’ve lost since hockey as well!  I used to come pretty close to doing the splits and now I look like a freakin protractor measuring out 90 degree angles with my legs… so THAT sucks…  Then I started jogging and my knee started screamin at me… “HEY IDIOT…. I RETIRED! REMEMBER?”  But after a few blocks that ceased….   Then I finished the run and was reminded of how much I hated running… …. the weight of your arms… the burning in your legs… the burning in your throat from the cold air… the feeling like you need to stop but you keep pushing yourself and telling yourself that it’s not an option… ::sigh:: It’ll get easier… I just gotta stick with it…  I’ll start getting back in the groove and the distances will increase, the pain decrease, and hopefully the pounds will start to shed…  I got a wedding to be ready for in 11 months ya know!  And fighting the Pirolli genetics is NOT an easy task…. all of my relatives on that side of the family have struggled with weight… grrr…  Well, wish me luck!

Mood:  Feeling all tired like my body hates me now…