Pity Party

I took three days off from running after getting hit with a barrage of aches and pains over the past two weeks. First, it was my shoulder. At first I thought this was brought on by my long 9 mile Sunday run, but after thinking about it more, it was more likely caused by holding two squirmy 30lb kids while we waited for Disneyland fireworks to begin. Yes, I trudged around Disneyland all evening the same day I went for my longest run in 9 years.

Then, a few days later, while running with my arm tucked under my shirt - my substitute for a sling - my right knee started to hurt. How do you overcompensate for a shoulder with a knee? The body is a mysterious beast.

I've self-diagnosed it to be Iliotibial band syndrome, pain along the outside of the knee, that's me! But it's not really the knee, it's the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin. It's a common overuse pain, and occurs often when runners ramp up their mileage to train for a marathon, etc. Sound familiar?

Anyway, so the next day, last Friday, I set out for my morning run, and absolutely could not run on my knee. I could walk, but as soon as I tried to turn it into a jog, it would scream. I immediately turned around and went home. Ice, motrin, and repeat.

Frustration. Discouragement. To Costco to buy old lady joint pills - bring on the glucosamine chondroitin...

So this past week, my training plan has been completely modified. Saturday, I was able to go for a strong 3 miler, but Sunday, my long run day, instead of being a 10 miler, was a 5 mile jog/walk. Monday is my weekly day off, and Tuesday I skipped to give my knee additional rest.

So last night, after a good 15 minutes of procrastination, reworking my ipod playlist, picking up this and that around the house, I finally put on my knee brace, took a deep breath and hit the street.

I felt good. Really good. I was singing to my knee, "So What! I'm still a Rock Star.... I'm alright! I'm just fine...." Then after two miles of awesome, my knee started to pout... And then it started to scream, so I sang, "You're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no...." Yes, sing to my body parts. Doesn't everyone?

I walked for half a mile, but when the pity party got a little too intense for me as I literally started to tear up thinking about how hard I've worked this past year and how an injury is the last thing I need. Thinking about how I want so badly to run a half-marathon this year, a marathon next year, and if I get really injured, that means I'm sidelined once again. I don't want to go backwards!! So I just said, "Shut up and Run!!"

And so I did. My knee was strong but not thrilled by the time I got home, but I slapped on some ice packs, took my motrin, old lady joint pills and massaged it with Ben Gay before I went to bed. I won't do any runs longer than 4 miles this week, and next week, I'll stay under 6. I have the Irvine Lake Mud Run next Saturday, and then it's just streets and hills until the half-marathon. I'll take it down a notch for a few weeks, and I'm determined to do great in Anaheim.

In the meantime, I need to make time for more circuit training. I think strength training will help tremendously, and I haven't made a lot of time for that. Pity party OVER.