Today I wanted to run 5 miles. I ran 3.5. It was a good reminder that I can't just wake up on April 5th and run a 10K like it's nothing.

The knee is feeling better and for the most part it's only mildly uncomfortable at times.

I need to get back into a better schedule with more frequent work outs if I want to be ready for the half in 6 weeks (eeek!)

Didn't run or work out Monday-Wednesday.

Ran about 3.1 miles on Thursday night. Took a different route so it was fun and different.

Tonight I'm going to do my strength workout on the exercise ball. Not sure what I'm going to do about the long run tomorrow. I have a busy day. Maybe I'll just switch it to Sunday.

We shall see...

Last Wednesday (2/26) I did my strength workout with M. I can tell I'm improving on this stuff so it's exciting. Thursday I did a 3 mile run. The knee hurt somewhat, but not as bad as in the past. I think the knee strap is helping.

Friday I didn't do anything training related, although resting is probably helpful for the knee. Saturday (yesterday) M and I did a 3.4 mile hike to Angels Rest. It was an amazing hike because the higher elevations of the mountain still had snow! My knee felt okay until the steep downhill parts of the hike. Totally worth it though:














Today I did a 4 - 4.5 mile run. The weather is beautiful and I couldn't pass it up! My knee killed at certain times of this run. I found that if I relax my hips and abs, and just let my hips twist as they naturally do when I walk, there is less knee pain. stretching when I got back helped a lot too. :)

I will conquer this

Next attempt at being able to run with a lame knee problem: buying a brace thing. M and I looked at a bunch of differnt supports and braces. We decided that maybe the problem is not my IT band after all. This was based on a chart we saw at a sports store that described pain up the outside upper leg. Most of my pain has been right around the knee and down into my shin and calf more than upwards. So we went ahead and bought a knee strap that goes under my kneecap. Perhaps my pain is most in the knee cap and tendons, or something etc.

Tried it out today. As soon as I put it on my knee felt stronger and this seemed like a good sign. So I went for a run. Ran/walked about 2.5 miles. I always feel good for about the first mile, and then the pain kicks again. About the same this time, but now the pain is in different places in my leg. Ironically I felt pain on the outside of my upper leg. And now there's pain in the back of my knee too. Wondering if I should get one of those full knee supports that works on everything.

Icing my knee now and then heading to dinner with M where I will discuss my latest type of pain and decide what to try next.

Luckily this knee strap was only $7 at Walmart and the full knee supports are about $10-$12.

On another note I realized today that there are not many weeks left until the 10K and only two more in addition to that before the half... Lord help me!

crazy

So I ran again on Monday. Just a short route. Knee still hurting. I'm sad. It still hurts today, just when I walk. I'm going to go to the sports store to get a strap they make for knee pain. Maybe that will help. M looked at some stretches and stuff online and said he was going to add to my routine some things that will help.

It's strange but somehow I'm not so freaked out about the races in April. Like for some reason I think I'm just gonna be able to run 13 miles even though right now I can't run any.

Someone tell me I'm crazy...