Minor Setback

Kind of sucks starting a blog on Saturday about qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and then the next day hurting your knee so badly that you have to call your girlfriend to pick you up midway through your run, right?

No joke, I am sitting on my couch right now with ice around my right knee, letting the ibuprofen sink in. I had to crawl up two flights of stairs to reach my apartment. I sat down on a stair, pushed my butt up to the next stair with my left foot, then repeated about 20 times. I couldn't even stand on my right leg. Meanwhile my girlfriend is looking at me in worry as I tell her how hilarious the whole situation is and that I am OK.

About two miles into my 10-mile run today I started feeling knee pain in both knees. There isn't anything new about this. I frequently feel minor aches and pains, but none of them have proven to last more than a few weeks. My right knee proved to be the weaker one, and was starting to involuntary buckle after about five miles. At this point I directed a few profanities at my knee, and convinced myself that no stupid knees were going to cut my run short. Besides, I thought, if I can't run ten miles then I might as well give it all up anyway.

At mile 8.5 I had to stop at a major intersection and wait about a minute for the green light. I suppose my body cooled down enough in that minute to bring the pain back. As a runner I've learned that injuries don't feel so bad when you're warmed up. But, ohhh, you'll be paying for it later. When the light turned green I could not only NOT run, but I was limping across the intersection. I stopped at the other side and stretched out, tried to walk it out, and then realized there was no way I could physically walk 1.5 miles home. Defeated, I called my girlfriend to pick me up.

I'm determined to fix this injury and ensure it doesn't happen again. I suspect doing lunges with poor form last week weakened my knees and quadriceps. My knees hurt a little on yesterday's run, but today really brought the pain out. I'm angry about this whole thing. But looking forward to healing and continuing my running.