orienteering race 58:36 [3] 3.1 mi (18:54 / mi)
Brown course at Hay Creek.
Well today has certainly been an interesting day. Got up, felt great, left leg feeling a good bit better than it has recently and so I was all ready to hit Hay Creek. And then right before I was leaving, my right knee suddenly and with no apparent reason seized up. Bending it more than 5 degrees sent jolts of excruciating pain, lifting the leg more than a few inches off the ground the same. Totally blind sided by this. It has happened before but not in a long while. And usually when it does happen, I can get it to go away relatively quickly by bending and straightening the leg or stretching a bit but nothing I did helped. I couldn't lift my leg to get in the car and I just didn't know what to do. I was actually worried that if I had to move my leg fast to hit the brakes I might not be able to so wasn't sure if I should drive. Eventually I was able to get in the car by sliding my leg in relatively straight and once seated decided that I could move my foot enough to drive. And I figured the hour drive would probably be all I needed to fix it, since it has never not gone away before.
Got to the event without incident, but still could not bend the knee more than a little without serious pain. Took my planned turn on epunch and then had to decide whether I was going to be able to go out or not. My left hip was reasserting itself and I still couldn't bend my right knee much. But I thought that I could probably get through a course if I just was careful and went slowly.
Got out to the start - thanks for the lift, Mac! - and made my way to the first few controls, going pretty slowly. Every so often, I would test the right leg, but there was still something not aligned in the knee and bending more than needed for walking was a no-go. I even had to get creative to get over things - stepping over with my left leg and then swinging my right leg from the hip. And then there was an uphill leg to #4. And while my left leg wasn't so happy with that, suddenly my right knee was fine. Whatever had been going on, something realigned itself and bending, while a bit sore, no longer had pain shooting up my leg.
Didn't dare try jogging though, so continued just walking the course, but at least I was able to pick up the pace a bit. Didn't really have any navigational problems, but the map sure seemed screwy in a few places.
After a long, hot bath and some stretching when I got home, my left hip is a bit sore but better than it's been lately and my right knee is a tad swollen but seems okay.
I am determined to get myself back into some sort of shape so I can race some of the upcoming events this spring, summer and fall. But, when my knee went out this morning and wouldn't stop hurting, I started thinking maybe I was kidding myself. Best guess is that I'm compensating for my left hip somehow and it did something to my right leg. Fingers crossed that the PT will resolve all of it.
And that's probably more than anyone wanted to know!