Breathe Again

Chapter 13

As soon as her alarm started going off at 7:30am, Madi instantly hated her prior self from the night before.

She forced herself to roll out of bed with a groan and headed to the bathroom to get ready to head downstairs to the gym.

Thankfully, no one was in the gym at almost 8am on a Saturday morning. She put her earbuds in, turned on her workout playlist and started stretching.

After a nice stretch she hopped on the treadmill for a warmup. She was 5 minutes into her warmup, when she felt someone get on the treadmill next to hers. Madi didn't even bother looking over, and continued on her own pace until someone tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped and looked over, "Geez Rob, you scared me." she said pulling out her earbuds.

Rob just smiled at her, "I thought I would have the gym to myself this morning. I didn't think anyone else would be here on a Saturday."

"I guess we had the same thought process. I get a little stir crazy just sitting in a hotel when I travel, so if I don't have anywhere else to be, I like to take some time to work off the energy." Madi explained.

Rob looked over at her and smirked, and she wouldn't even let herself travel down the road of what that was probably referring to. "I like to hit the gym when I'm stuck with writer's block, or just can't focus on my computer anymore. It's been a little more difficult since I had knee surgery about 2 months ago, so I'm basically just doing light and easy PT stuff."

Madi looked down at the scar on his right knee, "ACL?" she asked.

"Yeah, rock-climbing accident in Colorado, how did you know?" Rob looked at her surprised.

"I have a similar scar." Madi said showing him her right leg. "Sand volley ball injury. That was one of the worst summers of my life because of it."

"How did you tear your ACL playing sand volley ball?" Rob stopped his treadmill and turned to look at her fully.

"It was in the middle of summer at a Sports camp that I was working at between my Freshman and Sophomore year of College. The sand on the volley ball court was so hot one day when we were playing a tournament, so in order to not burn our feet off lpeople were digging holes with their feet to get to the cooler sand. I stepped in one of the holes when I went for the ball and my knee went one way and my body the other way. As soon as I heard it pop, I knew exactly what had happened. Recovery was the worst, I rushed it and reaggravated it and basically had to start all over again. I could help you with some PT exercises if you want. I know what it's like, and I won't sugar coat it, it sucks."

Rob looked at her with curiosity, "You continue to surprise me Madi. I would love any help and tips you have. I'll admit, I haven't been the best patient and I haven't been taking recovery too seriously, since I've been busy travelling and distracted. So where do we begin Doctor?" he winked.

"Oh, charm will not work with me sir. Let's head over to the yoga room and do some stretches first, then we will do some light cardio putting some weight on your leg, but not a usual amount you would be used to, then some light leg workouts. Let's go." Madi said as she led the way to the adjoining room.

They laid a couple of mats down on the hard floor and started with some leg stretches. Rob told her about some of his colleagues that were there for the conference, and Madi told him about her upcoming trips to visit Amanda and Eric.

"So, when are you going to be in Southern California?" Rob asked as they stood for the next stretch.

"About two weeks from now, so mid-April. I will probably be there for a couple of weeks before venturing on by May." Madi explained.