Flying Lessons at Planet Fitness

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My physical therapist cleared me to run the Friday before Labor Day. I used to run all the time in college, but I got out of the habit in NYC. I was so excited to get cleared to run because that means my recovery is advancing. I ran at 3.9-4.0 for a few minutes with my PT watching. I stopped running before the belt had slowed down at the end and stumbled a bit. He freaked out and tried to catch me and put his hand on my very sweaty back. I didn't fall or anything and we just laughed about it. 

I started working on endurance on Saturday and Sunday, and planned to run for more than 5 minutes on Monday. Labor Day was super busy, but I decided to go to the gym anyway. I ran for 4 minutes and started feeling pretty tired. I wanted to push myself to run for 6+ minutes at speeds between 3.8-4.0 mph. I decided to take a quick break, but I didn't think about how much faster 3.8 mph is compared to 2.8-3.4 mph. I missed the step and felt my body lurch forward. 

I desperately tried to grab the bars to steady myself, but alas I could not reach them. My knee hit the moving belt with so much force, I thought I broke my kneecap. My leg got skinned by the rubber belt as I slid backwards. I practically FLEW across the gym, and landed in a heap by the men's restroom. Listen, if you have ever been to Planet Fitness you know 2 things: 1. no one cares about you. 2. the employees never clean the equipment or floors. I laid on the disgusting floor in shock for a minute, just as a man came out of the bathroom. He looked down at me for a second, looked back up, and then STEPPED OVER ME. I was shook. 

My accident happened on Monday and my next PT appointment wasn't scheduled until Friday. That gave me WAY too much time to stress about my knee. My knee was swollen, it was clicking when I walked on it, and it hurt like hell. I couldn't wear pants for a few days because the fabric kept touching my peeled skin. I iced and elevated for hours every day trying to get the swelling to go down. I also cleaned the wounds a few times a day, because I did not want to get a flesh eating disease. 

Anyway, so I hobbled into PT and my physical therapist was like "What the heck happened, Cordova!!!!!!!!!!!" I sighed deeply and said, "I need you to do a Lachman's test, and then I'll tell you what happened". He was like, "How do you know what that is?" I rolled my eyes and gave him my "seriously" look. I said, "Bro, do you really think I haven't been stress searching my injury all week? Please. I just need you to test it." 

He did the test and we were both super quite as he pushed and pulled my knee. He tested the right knee and then compared my left knee to the right knee. Thankfully, he gave me the "all clear", and found that my ACL was still attached. I was so relieved, I almost cried. I could literally feel the stress and tension leaving my body.  

I took it easy at PT that day, and he said I could skip running until I felt up to it again. I was insistent that I was going to start again as soon as the swelling went down. (spoiler alert: I did not)

Anyway, enjoy the progression of my skinned leg healing over the last two weeks. It's mostly better now, but I definitely a few new scars. 






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