I have always enjoyed running (except in Buffalo NY during the winter of course, but that's the exception). I've been overweight for years but I have a large frame that easily absorbed the punishment of the additional weight...I went 31 years between knee injuries, for example.
Around June of this year I had gotten my blood pressure and blood sugar under control, dropped 70 pounds and was in the best shape I've been in in almost 20 years. I was breaking personal records lifting weights at the gym and running mile after mile on the golf cart paths here.
But then, inexplicably, I began slowing down...and this was not due to old age. I literally had my running stride shorten from 42 inches (I'm six foot four, have long legs) to 36 inches, to 32 and finally 29 inches. My legs refused to stretch any further...they didn't hurt, they just...wouldn't...stretch.
I tried increasing my pre-run stretching from 10 to 15 to almost 20 minutes, with no improvement. I swung a 25 pound kettlebell to stretch my hamstrings, nothing doing. Finally, I went to my doctor. He suggested I see an orthopedic doctor with a sports medicine specialty.
Long story short: one of the two ankles I broke in 1978 has so much calcium buildup on the upper joints that my right ankle only has half the mobility it should (it "locks" now at 90 degrees). This has forced me to take almost twice as many strides as most people when running....
...and this excessive number of steps, while making my musculature in my legs incredibly strong, has worn out BOTH of my hip joints. Bone is grinding on bone on each side.
The ortho doc gave me a Faustian choice:
- give up running and save what is left of your hips for another 20 or so years,
- or run for another year or so and get your hips replaced before you're 53. Of course, once you have artificial hips, you can no longer run.
He told me that most people in my situation take up cycling, but the "wear pattern" on my hips would make it hard to pedal a bike, so he suggested getting a recumbant bike. I'm not to enthusiastic about that idea.
I'm still coming to grips with this, but this has put me in a profound funk. I have decided to make a clean break and "retire" from running on January 1st after one final 4 mile run on December 31st.
New year, new decade, new exercise regimen.
Anyone want to buy a pair of almost new New Balance running shoes, size 13? They're only a month old!
