My Year of Torn Meniscus, #1

On 16 April I tore my left knee meniscus [cartilage] while running Seaton Trail 52 km. At least I think I did. It was a brutally rough trail course and the weather conditions were cold, pouring rain, and very windy. About 2-4C. The course was river valley bottom and ravine hills. Swampy ceder groves and slick clay hill inclines. Out and back twice so we crossed the 8m wide river four times. I had slept over at my friend Leslie's place and got to Whitby school in time for the 7am start. I started off at the back of the pack and slowly over the next 6 hours 16 min made my way near the front. But not always by passing people, it was more a race of attrition. I can honestly say it was the worst race weather conditions I have ever been in. If I would have stopped I would have got hypothermia in minutes. But I was in fairly good shape so I was able to maintain a solid pace that generated a lot of body warmth [that quickly dissipated!]. But I felt good the whole way, other than becoming totally exhausted over the last hour.
I tripped and stumbled several times, but I recall one spot on a steep downhill trail section that was full of cobble stones. It was straight and going diagonally down. The trail acted like a water channel catching all the runoff rain along the slope. Half way down the 300m hill the path was about 1m wide and was essentially a gushing stream about 10cm deep, water rushing down the trail over the cobble stones. I twisted my ankle and started to fall but caught myself on a small tree. I twisted my right ankle and thought I was done. But I walked it out for a minute and continued on my way down the hill's river. I was about 8 km from the finish.
I think that is where i hurt my left knee. I didn't feel a thing. Running was fine. Just tired!
At the last 600 m you exit the forest and cross a field, up a hill to the school's track. You then run 300m around the track to the finish line. There was nobody ahead of me and the person behind me was a couple 100m. There was no way I was going to walk this one in. I crossed the line - they had erected a pop-up shelter so the timer with her clipboard wouldn't get too wet. A kind lady walked me into the school where i plodded to the change room to get warm dry clothes. I had come to the race by my self. I started to shiver uncontrollably and just wanted to lie down. I knew a few people at the race but they were all still on the course. Eventually I plodded into the change room and went into the shower, shoes and clothes and all. I was covered in mud. The energy drink wasn't kicking in yet and i was still dizzy, I just leaned against the wall letting the shower warm me up. Taking off my shoes was hard. I couldn't bend over with out falling over. They were tied on tight so they wouldn't have come off in the mud. Eventually they were off, and i scooped out the mud. Having a buddy at the finish line after a race like this is a god-send.
I finally got out of the shower and put on dry clothes, then walked to the cafeteria where the 29km runners who were finished were lounging. I went straight for the energy drinks as I couldn't stomach any food yet. It took me about another 20 min before I stopped shivering, then I got a banana and bagel.
The race organization was informal to say the least and there was not much going on. Slowly runners came in one by one as their race finished. It was going to be a long time before they started announcing results.
My knee was fine. I looked around and still really know anyone. So, well, after an hour of sitting and nibbling food, drinking hot chocolate. I decided I was done. I got up, slowly and painfully plodded to the car, and drove home in the rain.
I relaxed at home for the end of the day and finally felt hungry to eat. I still had no problems with my knee. All my muscles were sore and every bit of me felt beat up, but I was walking fine.
The next day at home I went out for a very slow run. I got 50m down the road, turned around, and came back in. My knee hurt too much to run. I thought it was a tendon thing or something. It wouldn't be until August when I had my MRI that i found out I had really hurt it.