June 2, 2007

I had a decent run today - a real run with real times, and I have to admit it felt pretty good.
I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, though. On Friday I went out for a short walk during my lunch hour, and at one point took 3 or 4 jog strides to hurry across the street. Just that little bit of running resulted in a fairly sharp stab just below my knee. I was surprised by it, but at the same time encouraged a little because the pain was very localized, which suggests to me that there is healing going on. There better be; I spend an awful lot of time each day doing stretches and strengthening exercises.
Anyway, I went out today thinking 4.5 miles, maybe 5. And I was prepared to stop early if my knee hurt. The first eighth of a mile featured a few mild stabs of pain, not as bad as Friday, but enough to get me thinking about skipping the whole run. Miraculously, though, the pain quit. Totally. So, I continued on. Eventually, I gained enough confidence that I kind of settled into a reasonably fast but comfortable pace.
My first mile was 9:37, followed by 9:16, 9:13, 8:52, 8:51, 8:41, 8:30 and 8:31. Average was 9:00.
My knee never hurt during the run, although it did a little during my cool-down walk. When I got home I iced it and took a couple Aleve. At this point, several hours later, it feels almost normal.
Although I really missed the races that were held today - Dam to Dam in Des Moines and Hospital Hill in Kansas City, I'm encouraged by how things went on my own. I'll keep up the twice-daily exercise routine, and my scaled down mileage, and hope for a full recovery.