Patience and Consistency

Alrighty, so I'm 2 weeks plus a day into my MRI wait. So I guess that takes the average wait time down from 468 to 453. Wow. Time flies lol. I wonder how much pain I'll be dealing with in another 400 days?
So I'm trying to keep my routine. I've been doing at least a Livestrong workout each day, if not also running. Yesterday I got in a beautiful but tough 6.5km trail run. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I have a whole hour to kill while my daughter enjoyed a dance class workshop. I took the toughest route on this trail system and it kicked my butt, but it was great. I was super stiff to start but after about 30 minutes I warmed up enough to have fun jumping from rock to rock and then enjoyed the more groomed trail that followed. The run showed me I need to be more consistent with my running since this route wasn't so difficult a few weeks ago. Dance competitions, a head cold and life in general has been messing with my running plans but I know with a bit of dedication I can get my butt back on track.
Today its supposed to be +14C so I'm run-commuting part of my way home. Tomorrow is supposed to be even better and with another dance-hour to kill I'll be hitting that same trail route again.
My knee arthritis has been cranky but not too bad. Really, I think that's pretty manageable at this point. It's this strange occasional burning/stabbing/pulling pain I get on the other side of my knee that's really the pain in my behind. My "peg-leg" drives me crazy and no matter how specific I input my symptoms WebMD and Dr. Google can't seem to decide if its a meniscus injury or an mcl injury. One involves arthroscopic surgery the other doesn't. I'm afraid its the former since rest and rehab has done nothing for my peg leg. 453 more days-ish to go. It's funny but its not, especially when the stabbing pain kicks in.
I wonder if I'll ever get to experience another 50k race or if I'll ever have another pain-free day again. Other runner's experiences tell me its possible but this big question mark around my knee pain is holding me back, or should I say, I'm letting it hold me back. Sucking it up is not always an option when you can suddenly wonder if you are capable of rising from a chair without collapsing. Yeah, when is that MRI?