14 weeks until the Zion 100 and I’m injured. Yep, that’s right, I have developed runner’s knee. Also known as Chondromalacia patellar.
This is the worst kind of pain imaginable. I know I’m being dramatic, but I’ve never experienced knee pain in my life and this hurts really bad. With more than 200,000 US cases per year among runners, it deserves the nickname “runner’s knee”. Learn more about this condition in this article put out by Runner’s World.
The pain came on suddenly when I was traveling to San Francisco for my first ever ultra marathon, Fear and Loathing Hunter S. Thompson 50k/50mi. I was signed up for the 50K. You can imagine The wide spectrum of emotions I was feeling. At one point I actually thought I made up the knee pain because I was nervous. Wow! Our minds are powerful things.
Since California’s laws haven’t taken effect for recreational marijuana, I did not have any Mary Jane to support my physical and emotional pain. So, I ran the race knowing there was going to be repercussions.
I swallowed a few ibuprofen, tapped my knee with KT-tape (an amazing product) and pure will power. I finished the race in six hours and felt like I could have tackled the 50 miler. I'm not going to lie, I couldn’t wait to return to Portland where dispensaries are like coffee shops, on every block.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been over-indulging in every way I can imagine with my sweet Mary Jane. She’s helping with patiences, changing my perspective, relieving anxiety, boredom and helping me deal with physical pain. I’ve found that I’ve been using a fair amount of topical.
Cannabis topicals are a great form of pain management because you can be more specific to the area that hurts and the THC and CBD can absorbed through the skin. Topicals can be made as a salve (oil-base) and as a cream (shea butter).
Here a 3 ingredient cannabis salve:
- 1 cup cannabis
- coconut oil
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup beeswax.
Melt in a double boiler whisking occasionally until smooth, then pour into bowl to cool and voila you have a cannabis topical.
#Simon2Zion is regular TWB series where Simon chronicles her journey and training for the Zion 100, and how cannabis helps her accomplish her goals. Check out Part 1 of her series here.