I realized the other day that I have yet to sufficiently apologize to my knees. No, that’s not autocorrect from “niece”…she’s good. I’m talking about the two joints that every runner loves there in the middle of our legs.

If you follow my story then you know that in late 2009 I took up the activity of running. It’ll be my 5-year running anniversary this December. I’ve put thousands of miles on my knees while running. I’ve ran 44 races to date and I’m adding two more this month alone! It is time. It is time I apologized. My knees deserve an apology at this point. They’ve been waiting a long time. So here it is. The moment my knees have been waiting for since longer than I care to admit.

Dear Knees,

I am sorry I waited until I was 33 years old to start running. It wasn’t fair to you, both of you, to keep you weak for that long while also forcing you to carry my fat ass around all day. I know I could have made you stronger a lot sooner by taking up running sooner, but I was scared. I know, that’s no excuse. What the hell did I have to be scared of anyway? I was also ignorant. I’ll admit it you don’t have to agree so quickly…jerks. Ok, sorry, this IS an apology after all. I was ignorant and wanted to blame anything for my aches and pains, your aches and pains rather than my inability to get off the couch. I just “didn’t have the time,” remember?

I understand now that running has been the best gift I could have given you to make you stronger, ache less, and feel better all day especially on those days when we are on our feet all day. Oh, by the way, send my best to our feet…you live closer after all.

To wrap this up tell your ligaments, tendons and surrounding muscular structure not to worry. I will continue running well into my 70s and 80s.  I may slow down, but I will not allow sitting around to weaken you to the point where I blame daily activities for a weakened state and the aches and pains of being lazy like I did for too long.

One last thing, shorts weather is coming so look alive down there!

Your friend,
Brian