Every kilometer is a gift
An old knee injury, the MRI after Zegama, and learning to turn a setback into a new challenge.
“Moderate hydrops. Horizontal rupture in the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus with marked edema in the adjacent Hoffa’s fat pad. Cartilage damage centrally on the patella with adjacent bone marrow edema.”
Reading these lines on the MRI report the day after Zegama gave a more precise explanation to something I had been feeling for weeks. During the lead-up to the race, I had been managing pain in my left knee, doing physiotherapy at home, and trying to get through training as well as I could.
It is a familiar routine; ever since my accident and surgery in 2006, my left leg has been a constant companion in pain.
It started in 2006, when I was running home from school with my arms full of books. I jumped between two streets and landed hard on my knee against the cobblestones. The impact broke my patella.
After surgery, with a cerclage, the diagnosis was not very optimistic. My doctor was not sure I would be able to compete again at a high level.
With nothing to lose, I trained harder and smarter than ever. Since then, I have kept one idea with me: every kilometer my knee allows me to run hard is a gift.
Over the years, this has created a big difference in strength and range of motion between my two legs. But in endurance sports, this has not been so important most of the time.
The pain I have now is a familiar one. I have been dealing with it for the past three years, probably since the first meniscus tear happened.
It gets worse when I run fast on flat ground, where the impacts are higher and the range of motion is bigger. It gets much better when I focus more on vertical training.
The same pain appeared during my preparation for Chianti and Western States last year. Because I had learned to manage it, I was not too worried.
After Western States, the pain almost disappeared when I went back to mountain training, but it came back a few months ago when I started doing more flat and faster running again.
Performance is always the result of many different systems working together. To perform at the highest level, all of them need to function very well. In the past years, with consistent training and lifestyle, I have seen that most of my metrics are still improving. I can see that clearly in tests on routes I have run hundreds of times.
But the system where I notice the biggest decline with age is the neuromuscular system. Because of that, mechanical injuries and muscular problems have become more frequent. This is something I have felt myself, and it will need more focus in the future.
I share this not to ask for sympathy. If this injury had happened ten years ago, I would have been disappointed. Twenty years ago, probably devastated. Today, I mostly feel grateful.
At Zegama, even when the pain made it impossible to keep racing at full intensity, I was still able to continue at an easier pace, enjoy the crowds, and feel the energy of the race. During the race, I spent a lot of time feeling silently thankful for all the support I have received there over the years.
Now, with an uncertain preparation for the next races, I see an interesting challenge ahead: recovering as quickly as possible and experimenting with new ways of training for races that usually require a lot of impact.
Injuries are part of an athlete’s life, and learning to manage pain is also an important part of performance. In a way, I am grateful for this moment. Without the same pressure to chase a specific result, I have more freedom to be bold, to be ambitious, and to experiment with my recovery.
A setback can also be an opportunity to learn. The next goal is clear: I will be on the start line of Western States, with a different preparation, but the same curiosity to see what the body can do.
Extremely helpful to read. Reframing can be so powerful. I think I'm still in your "10 years ago" phase of my career, so there's some work for me to do :) which is mostly a good thing. See you in Olympic Valley!
Gracias por compartir la historia, Kilian. El que compartas tu experiencia con sinceridad, nos motiva a muchos otros corredores a valorar cada kilómetro recorrido, a pensar que cada kilómetro que logremos completar en el futuro es un regalo que debemos valorar en su justa medida y darnos cuenta de que el tiempo que Dios nos permita disfrutar haciendo lo que amamos debemos aprovecharlo al máximo. Un fuerte abrazo desde Guatemala. Que tu rodilla mejore y que, si vas a Western o a cualquiera de las otras carreras, antes que cualquier otra cosa, las disfrutes.