The Bruce E. Simmons Portal » running

The Running Journey After Knee Surgery [6-12-11]

brusimm — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:28:14 +0000

On February 10th 2011, I had knee surgery. I had developed an issue that could be called, of all things, movie-goers knee. or sometimes called jumpers knee or runners knee. Pick one, it doesn’t matter. It all hurt.

What would happen is that when I sat, my knee cap was aggravating some nerves and the discomfort it created made me squirm in discomfort. You have to understand, some time back when I broke my arm in 8 places, I had to convince my doctor it was broken. (I have a high threshold for pain. It used to come in handy in my scrapper days.) So when I start to squirm from a discomfort, that’s my usual understated method of communicating.

The discomfort started while I was running/training for the 2009 San Francisco 1/2 marathon. I was on the 10-mile weekend when, the following week, the knee started acting up. I kept pushing through the discomfort and was finally reduced to walking my 10+ miles in training for my 1/2 marathon that I was going to participate in.

I did manage a ’3-hr even’ running event, but wow, the knee was pretty uncomfortable.

After talking to my doctor, who said that there’s no guarantee, said that more than likely he can fix it and that I’d be up and about in a few days after surgery. (He forgot to mention the huge leg brace, crutches, cane and such that I’d be “up and about” with. LOL)

After surgery, I lived with a leg locked-out in the straight position for a few weeks, then I was allowed to unlock it, and then it came off. I remember what bliss it was to finally be able to get into my truck and drive to work rather than walking. And then later, the ability to ride my bicycle again was also a wonderful feeling of escape, or freedom.

Trust me, when you walk to work with crutches or a cane, that is a serious workout and it takes much longer than walking regularly.

After a long, long recovery period… or so it felt to this runner, I finally got the go ahead to start it back up. On June 6th, I had rejoined my walking group. (Something I joined when I had to stop running.) That was a tough 3 mile walk at a very good clip. Then the following Wednesday, I “ran” a 1/2 mile in 12 minutes and on Friday I then turned in a 10 minute run for .8 of a mile.

And thus, my road to recovery has commenced with walking, running and biking cross-training endeavor. It’s worth it gang. Trust me, for a guy who thought he would never take up running, it’s really not a bad thing to try. I’ll talk about getting into running in a later article. (Though if I keep experiencing hosting issues with GoDaddy, I might be moving this bad-boy blog somewhere else!)

Now, where’s that first 1K event for toddlers? I think I can take ‘em!

Running Through Atherton at Midnight with Limp Bizkit and Paul Gross

brusimm — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:15:41 +0000

Yep. I just got back from a pretty peaceful run… and yes, it’s 1 a.m. in the morning. That’s why it’s peaceful! I like running at night.

I strapped on my super-bright headlight, bright blinking tail-light, and headed out through the streets of Atherton while running to the sounds of Limp Bizkit, Paul Gross, Due South and some other assorted music.

I’m technically not training for a marathon, but I just might running to be ready for the San Francisco Marathon (1/2) that takes place just after July 21st. That would mark my having been running for 1-year.

My wife has been running for a few years and I’ve traditionally been a non-runner due to perceived, or poorly ingrained self-beliefs about what I can or can’t do. But I’m cranking it out now… for me. I have yet to cross the 7 mile mark, and I have 5 months, so I better start pushing if I’m going to do this thing. IF. I’ve made no promises.

Any way, tonight was my best “long-distance” running pace to date, at an 11:47 pace for 6.4 miles. I’m happy with that. For now!

Well, gotta scat! It’s bedtime!

Running Is Something Done Alone

brusimm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:05:02 +0000

Today is the day after Christmas. Yesterday was clear and blue… a near perfect Southern California day for Christmas. I personally would like to see some sort of weather for Christmas, but there you go. Beggars can’t be choosers, and well, I have no control over it any way.

But today is a fine overcast, keeping some of the valley heat in. So the brisk, but dry 41 degree weather wasn’t that bad. Like “dry heat,” dry cold is the same. It just doesn’t feel as cold as it could be.

I headed out and up.

I only started running back in July of 2009. I’ve been rather “sheltered” in what I was allowed to do as child and never really tried to hit the running circuit of life. Of late though, it seems that my limitations weren’t really what I thought. I was only led to believe in these limitations from outside sources. And that whole thing is for a completely different blog where we rant about our parents.

So I’ve been pushing through my asthma and other issues and when I had my first official run where I signed up for a 5k, through a number of stupid circumstances, my very first timed or official run, I did alone. It was no one’s fault. Everyone else I knew was in the event too, but doing the “real running” so it was what it was.

I was pretty disappointed because up until then, I was all about everyone in the family being there for everyone but it was a good perspective to experience as I ran this 5k by myself, amongst strangers. It was fun to be running with like minded athletes. I was part of this crowd. But as I crossed the finish line, the crowd had thinned and I was alone. No one I knew was at the finish line, but hundreds of strangers were cheering me on.

Or so I was told. I was in this straggling state of mind where the world didn’t seem to exist and yet I knew the like-minded runners, families and fans were there, saying good job Bruce. But I did it myself. I cranked one step after the other to cross that finish line in 35:00 flat. My real competition was this mother pushing a carriage… I don’t remember where she finished though.

So no one from my family was there to take my picture. It was all me. So I took my own pictures dangit! And in the end, that’s fine. Hence, why I say we all run alone. That’s who pushes us. Ourselves. That’s who we’re proud of at the end of the day, ourselves.

So I headed out and up today, by myself. Normally, where I run is pretty flat. Here in the Santa Clarita Valley, the section I’m visiting in is rather hilly. Ouch. I was warned it would hurt the next day… but they lied. It started hurting later that day.

But the reason I wrote was to say that no matter what, whether you head out on a solitary run or with a group, it’s something only you can do. Only you can push yourself or choose to take the easier path of resistance.

It’s something I learned recently and it’s a good thing to know. At least that way, I’m not fooling myself because I’m the one who has to decide if I want to push myself to new levels of performance or not. It’s my call.

Thanks for visiting!

I Hate Top Gun… While Running

brusimm — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:07:17 +0000

Top Gun soundtrack kills my run pace!

How many times have you been out running, keeping a decent pace, when suddenly your “iPod” kicks it in gear with an awesome, high energy song?

And then at the end of the song, there I am, wheezing away. LOL. Someday I’ll get some self-control. But until then, it’s more work on my pace. (Or more work on wheezing without looking like I just got run over by a high-speed tricycle!)