If You Wanna’ Kiss The Sky You Better Learn How To Kneel (On Your Knees Boy)

I’ve had an ice pack on my right knee for so long that cold is beginning to feel hot.

So, the doc said it’s quadriceps tendonitis. In fact, both docs said so: Dr. Woo (who was the first doctor available at Manhattan Orthopedic & Sports Medicine), and my go to guy, Iron Man Triathlete Dr. Mark Klion. On a scale of one to ten, we agree that the injury is a two. In terms of timing, though, it’s an eight.

Quadriceps tendonitis is an inflamation in the connective tissue between one’s quadricep muscle (the huge muscle in the front of your lef) and the patella, or kneecap.

The New York City Marathon is seventeen days away.

Their advice: three Advil three times a day, ice 4-5 times a day, and plenty of rest…

Seventeen days before the New York City Marathon.

In years past, when training was growing tedious, or I didn’t feel up to the race, I would wish a small injury on myself. I may have even said something similar to Abbigail recently during a particularly unpleasant long run.

I don’t wish for an injury anymore. I just wish I could run.

Imagine that you’ve spent, say, ten hours a week practicing something, and a bunch of the time in between preparing for it and worrying about it. And then… And then you injur yourself goofing around with a three-year-old (a delightful three-year-old, but still).

It is impossible not to consider the symbolic meaning in all of this. I’ve never been so focussed on training, nor ever been so in tune with my body (I’ve been to six doctors in fifteen days). So why me? And why now? Did I need some sort of humbling? Did I need a greater challenge? Is it some cosmic message that I need to slow down?

I haven’t run since Sunday’s Staten Island Half Marathon, and already I feel like a lard ass.

Ok, enough whining. Here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to ride my bike in the morning. I’m going to keep up with the ice and the Advil. I’m going to keep up with the stretching, and resting. On Sunday morning (I leave for L.A. on Saturday, by the way), I’m going to go for a short run in Palm Springs. I’m going to take it easy, and see how it goes. Then ice, and rest, and ice some more.

On Sunday, November 5, I’m going to run the New York City Marathon. And when I’ve crossed the finish line, and put my metal around my kneck, and wrapped myself in mylar, I’m going to find Ethan in the crowd, walk to the playground, and goof around on the tallest, longest, fastest slide I can find.

It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s all right.