I guess my orthopedic surgeon really did know what he was talking about

I went to Louisiana this weekend for really the first time since K and I got engaged. I hadn't seen any of our friends there, so when we found out there was going to be a party at one of K's friends, we were game (not that we wouldn't have been anyway).

We were hanging out and having a great time. K and I were hanging out in the living room on the couch, and for some reason I got up to go into the kitchen. I rounded a corner and almost ran right into a couple of K's friends who were coming in to the living room. My right knee buckled, and I immediately went back to the couch to sit down.

This was the same knee that was really hurting me on day two of the bike ride. It's the same knee I had surgery on before my freshman year in high school, and the same one I've had trouble with so many times since.

I'd just grown so quickly (if you're short, here's one reason you can be happy for it!) that the muscles in my knee hadn't kept up. After I had my knee surgery, my orthopedic surgeon had told me that I'd need to do knee exercises for the rest of my life. I just figured the muscles around my kneecap were late bloomers. The thought of myself at 80 doing these stupid knee exercises seemed pretty ridiculous, so I decided I'd break out the weights whenever my knee started feeling weird.

What that really means is that I just never do the exercises -- even when my knee does feel weird. And in the case of the 150-mile bike ride, I didn't want to ride 120 miles and let a stupid knee stop me from completing those final measly 30 miles.

In the days after the ride when I noticed how much stronger my legs looked, I figured I might even have built up the muscles around my knees from doing that. After all, cycling isn't supposed to be hard on your knees since you're not putting the pressure and stress on them that things like running can do. I wear a brace when I run for that very reason, but I thought cycling was okay. I also thought since I was being more active, my muscles -- all of them -- would be more built up anrd I wouldn't have to worry so much.

I guess I was wrong. And I guess if I want to keep doing things like work out and ride bikes, I'm going to have to spend a little extra time working out my knees as well.