ACL recovery - 3.5 month post op

The last several days, I feel like I have withstood the initial rigors of my knee reconstruction and have finally turned the corner in terms of recovery.  This morning I tried a 3-mile run with some rolling hills and felt pretty good.  Once again, I kept it at an easy 9 minute-per-mile pace.  In fact, I feel so good that I am about to head over to the pool and get in some practice on my freestyle stroke.  My intention is to do two more of these runs this week and see what happens.  I am due back to the the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday for a checkup.

Some people have asked how the knee feels and I just tell them it feels "tight", almost as if there were a tensioner in my knee that someone had ratcheted up.  On occasion, I'll feel a pop or shift as a tendon seeks its alignment.  I can only hopefully assume that there will come a day where my left knee will operate as smoothly as my right one.

As far as my lower body weight lifting routine, I am now moving about as much weight for most exercises as I was prior to the injury.  The big exception, of course, would be the seated leg extension exercise.  Last week, Rob and I took baseline measurements for the Y Balance Test.  We keep increasing the weights and the difficulty of the PT exercises.  All cone drills look good so far including the karaoke and the side-to-side movement.  Swimming is coming along very slowly but that really doesn't have anything to do with my knee.

When this all first happened, I was concerned that my running days might be over or at the very least, greatly curtailed.  Age has never been a limit I have placed on myself whatsoever and those of you that know me surely would agree that this is true.  However, being 46, I had no idea of the effect age would have on my recovery.  I understand that those PR running times are going to become increasingly precious commodities.  I also realize that I have a ways to go before I get back on the trail but what is important is that I now BELIEVE that I will be back racing by January of 2011.  If this morning was any harbinger of things to come, then watch out because I am about to unleash a lot of positive energy and love into the world.    

Finally, I forgot to mention where I did my run this morning.  My sister Lauren, brother-in-law Randy and I went down to the New River Gorge in West Virginia yesterday to see if there were any autumn colors out.  It seems like we are about two weeks away.  Nevertheless, the scenery and beauty of the area offered a nice 24-hour respite from work.  The view from Grandview Point is something I could stare at for hours ...