Snaggle Foot

Since my last post from NOC I have rafted the Nantahala, put another section behind me and been sidelined by the knee again….OH, and I now have a trail name!  I am now known as Snaggle Foot ;-)  This came about as my friend Jen made a comment on FB about my (blogged) foot issues and all the silly names (trail names) she was reading about and called me snaggle foot.  I found this very funny and read it out loud to everyone…and well….it has stuck. lol

The zero at NOC was great!  Runoff, Bookworm and I rented a raft and I guided them down the Nantahala River.  Perfect weather for it!  Then while at Rivers End Birdman showed up with BLT and Dak.  He offered us to come to Asheville for the night for some beers, pizza and pool….not to mention comfy beds and showers.  Dak, runoff and I took him up on the offer and jumped in the car. 

Once there I crashed and the three of them went out.  I knew if I joined them there were only two unfavorable scenarios in my near future.  1. I would be the tired whiny guy that just wants to leave (Lame) and 2.  I would end up getting drunk in an effort to stave off the sleepiness and not be that whiny guy.

The sleep did me well and offered me the opportunity that evening to reorganize my gear before passing out.

The following two nights and three days were spent going towards Fontana Dam.  This started off with a 6ish mile (3100ft elev.) climb up and out of Nantahala gorge that we flew up.  We ended that day shortly after the climb at the first shelter.  The following was a 15 miler that left my knee in pain during the last 2-3 miles.  This is the point where I started to feel maybe a doctor visit would be best just to make sure of what’s going on.  The next morning was only 5 miles into the Dam and I hobbled a little bit towards the end of it.

I offered Dak and runoff to crash at my joint instead of the shelter for the night and they took me up on it.  The next morning I got up to drive them back and between the case of beer from the previous night and the promise of nasty storms they decided to take a zero and spend another day here.  I couldn’t go anywhere since the Doc wouldn’t be able to see me till Monday morning.  

They accompanied me to REI so I could return the other boots that tore up my feet and my failing Steripen that only seemed to work when it chose to.  A HUGE shout out and Thank you to REI Asheville for being so awesome and allowing my exchanges!  Such a RAD store!  The rest of the day was filled with other errands, movie rentals, pizza, wings and beer.  I ran them back to the dam the following morning.

The doc checked out my knee and gave me some great news.  No major problems, and it wasn’t my IT band.  It’s the lateral collateral ligament in my knee.  This is towards the outside of the knee which is why I assumed it to be the IT band from the pain.  It’s a direct result of pushing to far too soon and will get better as it acclimates to the daily grind.  The biggest problem will be keeping to 10 mile days for a couple weeks.  I can do more and will want to, but need to allow it to heal and get used to the strain.  He said eventually it will go away all together; I just have to take it easy for a while.

I’ll be back on trail in a day or two to take on the Great Smokey Mountain National park and break 200 miles….at a snail’s pace ;-)  I will also be comforted in knowing that the knee issue isn’t serious and will eventually work itself out as the body acclimates to the strain.

BTW, my feet are healing well and kind of looking better.  I love my new Merrell shoes and superfeet insoles!