Origins

To explore the genesis of my knee's ugly battle with cartilage, one must go back 5,000 years to the times of the ancient sages of the Middle Kingdom.  It's like this--China's got these 4 sacred mountains, see, and way back when, the emperors had to trek up the mountains as pedestrians, as there were no trams or gondolas like there are today.  The precious emperors could not let their feet touch soil, so stairs were built to accommodate them.  5,000 years later, from the base to the peak of each of these mountains, you'll be hard-pressed to find any dirt trails to hike up.  Brace yourself for a neverending spiral of stairs, stairs, and more stairs.

July 1997:  After two years of teaching English in China, and witnessing the British return of Hong Kong to China (while hanging from a tree in front of the LegCo and Bank of China buildings on HK Island), I had 3 weeks left on my visa.  I decided to spend my final weeks hiking up the four sacred mountains, each located in one of the four corners of the country.  HuangShan (aka the "Yellow Mountains"), TaiShan (trekked by Confucius), HuaShan (notoriously treacherous, but famed for it's  treacherously stunning views from the peak), and EMeiShan (inhabited by creepy-looking, albeit friendly, monkeys).  I was already under heavy time constraints, but this was further compounded by my refusal to get on any domestic air flights in China, for obvious safety reasons.  Instead I took hardseat trains between destinations--the final leg between Chengdu and Canton lasted 43 hours alone!  (At the right is an EXCELLENT photo I snapped atop Huashan Mountain, near Xian, China.)

So, for the entire 3 weeks, I was in a mad rush to make it up to one sacred peak, then on to the next.  This bright guy thought he was in the best-shape of his life, hiking as many as 13 hours one day with few breaks along the way.  Well, what goes upstairs, must come back downstairs.  At the time, I didnt even stop to think what all the stress of all that pounding on my knee was doing to my cartilage.  Coming down HuaShan, I really wanted to get off that mountain by sunset, and started racing the sun down the stairs.  I start shaking uncontrollably whenever I think about that now.  Anyway, after the entire trip was over with, I felt grrrrrrrrreat, and was looking forward to getting back home to train for my first marathon in two years.  Or so I thought.

These are photos I took of some of the stairs, stairs, and stairs at Huashan Mountain near Xian, China. I'm convinced 3 weeks of heavy climbing screwed up my knee.

September 1997:  It was a beeyootiful Indian Summer afternoon in Palee Alto, an afternoon that ignited this tragic nightmare, and ultimately begat "Microfracture Woohoo."  I stopped off at my sister's place to park my car, then proceeded on an innocent run down Stanford Avenue and up the Dish trail.  Feeling like a million stock options, I was picking up a pretty good pace, but then outta the blue, "OWWWWW!!!!!!" I shrieked, then thought, "Hmmm.  That was funky.  Shake it off.  Keep running...........OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......Oh, that huuuuuurts!  That's OK, you can limp another 5 miles.   Just pick up the pace...........OWWWWWWWW!!!!!"  I continued limping, and a girl passed me and asked if I was all right.  Mustering up all the manliness I could, I grimaced, "I'll be OK, thanks."  Unfortunately, I was stuck halfway up the trail, with no way to get back to my car, and without a cell phone or access to a pay phone.  I was forced to limp 2 miles back to my car--sheer misery.

The following images include an arial view and map of the dish trail in the Stanford hills.

Fall 97 - Spring 98:  Initially, after this incident, I could barely walk 2 blocks without feeling that sharp pain in the knee.  For about the next half-year, I backed off on the running.  By about March 1998, I had the urge to run again and started training for the Rock N Roll Marathon in May.  The condition had improved to the point where the pain was not as debilitating as it was before, however, the pain and I continued to co-exist during my runs, as well as when I tried to squat or extend my leg out. 

I toughed it out and made it to San Diego for the marathon.  That inaugural Rock N Roll event is now infamous for its 40 minute late start, and lack of water and rock n roll along the course.  I made it to the halfway point at a sub-3 hour pace, but I started losing it by mile 18.  The pain started kicking in, and pretty violently I might add.  My knee was swelling like a balloon and runners coming up from behind were commenting on the grapefruit that my knee was becoming, suggesting I stop.  So, at mile 21, I stopped, walked the next 3 miserable miles, then managed to work up a gimpy jog to the finish.   (That's Sleeve, being propped up by Madonna, at the finish of the Rock N Roll Marathon.)

August 98:  So, after the marathon, I moped around for the next few weeks and finally decided I was past due to see someone about this.  Went and had X-rays and MRIs done, and Dr. Eakin found a coupla chunks of cartilage had worn down to the bone.  Although I've been running for over 15 years, since junior high, I never experienced any knee problems before this.  I highly suspect I chewed up my cartilage trekking up and down the ridiculous steps of those mountains.  So, Eakin recommended Microfracture to generate fibrocartilage to fill in the divots, and three short weeks later, I was at the Recovery Inn of Menlo Park, unsuccessfully arguing with the nurse, insisting that she wheel me into the O.R., like we've all seen on Marcus Welby and Quincy..........