I haven't written any entries for a while because I'm struggling with my first injury.

Last week I twisted my knee while playing tennis. I took 3 days off from any activity and saw the doctor or Friday. He said I had arthritis in my right knee.

Ok...I'm getting older, but ARTHRITIS! Of course I wanted it to be something you can fix. He gave me some Mobix to try and sent me home.

Anyway, I decided if it's "only" arthritis I might as well keep walking. Saturday morning we had a 14 mile walk scheduled and I planned to do it.

It's as though all the fates were conspiring on Saturday. I overslept and woke with barely enough time to get dressed, brush my teeth and jump in the car. When I arrived at Borders most of the other walkers were gathered. I signed in and gathered my gear. As we started out I realized my hat was still in the trunk so I rushed back to the car to grab it.

All that rushing around just seemed to trigger the knee pain again, but I decided I would try to find a stride and pace that would work, even with some pain.

For the first time I was walking at the back of the pack. I became very focused on how I put my weight down, how I stretched my leg forward, how I could make it hurt less. It was a frustrating feeling but I was determined to walk to the first pit stop and evaluate how I was feeling. If I couldn't go on, the volunteer could drive me back to my car.

At four miles I stopped for fresh water and did some stretching. I sat down for a couple of minutes and decided that I wanted to keep walking. Somewhere in my mind I realized that many people cope with pain everyday and I could manage to deal with some arthritis!

Anyway, I decided that I would walk alone for a while and do some meditation to refocus my mind on other things besides my knee. That seemed to help a bit and I kept going.

I will admit at every pit stop and grab and go I sat and rested a bit longer, changed my socks twice, took some Motrin, and wondered why 14 miles was soooooo long.

At the final pit stop I actually felt a little sick and light headed so I sat and talked with Janice for a while. Sue caught up with me (I was no longer in the very back of the group) and we finished the last mile and half together.

It was a tough morning, but I felt glad that I was able to walk with the pain. I was very happy to go home to some rest and ice.

Let's hope this week will be better!