Knock, knock, knocking on heavens door...knock, knock, knocking on heavens door...

Or 'knocked knees' the medical term is 'genu valgum'...either way. I'm afflicted.

So running had been going really well- I was loving life, loving my 3x a week runs with Jas... they have been therapeutic, a much needed escape from the stresses of work and something I truly came to enjoy (although I never thought that would be possible). Well, after our last run on Sunday I was having some really horrible pain in my knees- particularly my right knee. And the pain just hadn't been getting better. I was having swelling and hot spots around my knee joint. I am not a runner, but I have been an athlete in the past and I knew that this was not normal. 

Being brand new at my hospital I wasn't quite sure who to see for this issue, but with some help of the medical director in the ED and the chief over the residency program I got a recommendation and phone call and I was in to see a great orthopedist a day later. 

I had x-rays and the doctor came in to check me out. He diagnosed me with chondromalacea or runner's knee. He said the chondromalacea is due to my knocked knee's, my intoeing ('pigeon toed') and perhaps pushing myself too hard, too soon (me do this?! Never...or not quite). From the xrays he also diagnosed me with joint space narrowing which kind of sucks... he said someone my age should not have knee joints that look like they do. He still thinks that running is going to be good for me- but I need to some quad strengthening exercises, get some different running shoes, take another week off and then ease back into it. We'll keep an eye on the joint space narrowing. 

So the long and the short of it is- this journey to the half marathon is not going to be easy- and at this point in my training I don't know if I will be able to run the full 13.1 miles- but I'm going to try. 

I do have good news though!!! FINALLY, after almost 2.5 months I finally have my DC license plates! This has been the battle royale- I have called Chase roughly 15 times just to get all of the required documentation- but I'm official now! 

In addition to the tags, I now have a parking permit for the street out front our house. So now, if people come visit we can have them park in our garage and we can put our car on the street. This is definitely a good thing. And boy, it's been a long time coming.

My favorite brother (or my only brother, either way) is coming to town Labor Day weekend- I can't wait! We're going to hit up the International Spy Museum and some other touristy sites during his time here. Can't wait to see my baby brother!

That's all the excitement from these parts...