The Long Cold Run

Why Run?

Lately a lot of people have all been asking me the same question -- Why do you run????? Some of them phrase it a bit differently -- Why do you run, haven't you had enough knee problems??? My answer is actually very simple -- Because I Can! After 14 knee surgeries and several years of needing a cane to walk more often than not (despite only being in my twenties), I can run. More specifically, as I found out last year, I can run 26.2 miles and still want to run more.

Since I was a teenager, I have struggled with a knee injury that caused my knee cap to dislocate repeatedly. The injury was caused when someone lost their temper and I was the closest target. Surgery after surgery failed and I was told to suck it up and learn to adjust to the fact that I would never play sports again. That wasn't easy to hear for a hard-core soccer player and someone who was running 5:15 miles.

In the spring of 2003, I was walking down the street on my way to work when my knee cap dislocated again -- and life has never been the same since! I had a new doctor through the university I attend and he sent me to a surgeon at the Boston University. After some discussion, he was convinced that my knee could actually be fixed. It turns out that one of the surgical options that we ruled out more than 10 years ago is close to 90% successful now.

That surgery, the fulkerson osteotomy, happened 2 weeks after my wedding. The procedure involves surgically breaking the bone that sticks out beneath your kneecap (on the shin) and digging a new channel to one side, then reattaching the bone with screws. I was in bed for 12 weeks except for trips to the bathroom and physical therapy with the occassional trip out in the world if a car was availible.

On Thanksgiving Day of 2003, I "ran" around the parking lot of a hotel in Mt. Laurel, NJ with my partner Carolyn - the best run either of us has ever had. My leg was dragging behind me but it was more running than I'd been able to do in years. In January of '04, I started playing indoor soccer with a brace. That following February, I started working out in the gym and in March, my surgeon told me that I was medically cleared to do anything I wanted. I asked what anything meant and he said "whatever you want to do." I laughed and joked that I should run a marathon and he said go ahead!

Over the summer I ran a half-marathon and then when my Uncle Chris got sick I decided to see just how serious my surgeon was. I applied to the DFMC marathon team and was accepted. I probably would have run even if Chris hadn't gotten sick just to see how far I could push it. Running with Dana-Farber is a way to remember Chris -- but running is a way to remember that I can survive life's challenges. Running with DFMC gives me a way to take the challenges I've had and use them to raise money for others to fight the challenges they are facing.

posted by Jesse @ 7:48 PM