Oh yeah,

and I ran 10 miles today at the gym, possibly one of the most boring things I have ever done. I was limited only by my concern that if I continued to run, I would fall asleep and be catapulted off the back of the treadmill, perhaps injuring myself and my pride even more than they have been in recent months.

I've also figured out that if I run with my left foot slightly angled out, my knee doesn't seem to bother me all that much! Huzzah NSAIDS, ice, relative rest, and running like a pigeon!

Here is an email from Melvin the orthopedic surgeon, whom I love/hate:

"[he spelled my name wrong, by the way],

You have got to stop running completely and let this heal. Otherwise, you are going to end up with a rod in your tibia.
Stay on the Naprosyn, ice and REST!!!!!"

I don't really understand why I will end up with a rod in my tibia, but whatever. I was at the gym today and they have this little bookshelf in the hall with outdated books on it on sports medicine and working out etc. I opened up this sports medicine book from 1987 (I was 4!), directly to the IT band-related knee pain page completely by random! (It's times like these that I think perhaps there is a God and I am completely wrong about this whole atheism thing.) Anyway, this section of the book wasn't all that helpful to me because there wasn't any quick fix for knee pain described, but one statement caught my eye, which I thought really hit home. I considered pocketing the book, highlighting the paragraph, and mailing it to Melvin. What it said was essentially: "In terms of treatment, rest, ice, stretching, and anti-inflammatories generally work for most IT band-related knee pain, HOWEVER, NO SERIOUS RUNNER IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EVVVEERRR AGREE TO NOT RUNNING, so as an orthopedic surgeon, your best best is really just suggesting a mileage cut, because realistically, if you told your serious runner to stop running, they are not going to follow your advice. So don't even pretend."

Don't get me wrong, I love this guy, but seriously? Stop running? THAT'S the advice you're going to give me?!