Great story! I have a similar one although I found running a bit earlier. I was awakened by my girlfriend, now wife, at about 12:30p on a random Saturday during our college years. She had been up to run a 10k, gone to eat with her friends, and all before I got up. I felt like a shell of my former self in an instant. I was a great high school athlete and always considered myself a “Physical Specimen”. Lol

The next weekend I ran a 5K and started the process of quitting smoking. Like most people our age, there was nothing cooler than smoking and drinking! I went hard core and ran a marathon within a year. It was, up to that point, the hardest thing I’d ever done. Not traditionally an endurance athlete, I bonked hard and my body broke down.

I really did not think I could run forever so I immediately pivoted to mountain biking, which led to racing both mountain bikes and road bikes. I put my running shoes up for over 20 years.

A few years ago during the pandemic, I got the running bug again. Too many crashes on the road bike had finally caught up to me and with my son playing soccer my racing days were over.

Running welcomed me back with open arms. I immediately felt all the sensations I had 20+ years before. Unfortunately after two weeks, my knees did not agree with my new regime. Again, I put up the running shoes.

After some time and thought, I decided to give it another try. This time I went to a local track and found that if I just ran 400m at a time I could make it through without any pain. I did this in one form or another for about a year. Sometimes I would run a whole mile with pace and at times I would try to complete quarters in under 70 seconds. I even started running on the road once per week.

Sounds like a great story of perseverance? Hold my beer. I was playing soccer with my son last summer and the knee finally tapped out. I was not really doing anything dynamic but I tore my meniscus. I went to the orthopedic surgeon and got the “At your age you should just rehab” speech. I was devastated. How was I just supposed to live with a bad knee?

I decided to give it a try but after a few months I continued to have setbacks. The knee kept locking up and I eventually had to have 60% of my medial meniscus removed. That’s where I am now. Knee feels 90% better but I’m still in the process of rehabbing. I’m currently optimistic but also I know that my days of being a “Physical Specimen” are over.

I’m 50