PhillyGirlRuns: Sounds Familiar

Hmm.

I feel like history might be repeating itself.

Last year, when I signed up for Broad Street after months of successful and pain-free running, my knee started bothering me that very same day.

This year, when I signed up for Broad Street after even MORE consecutive months of successful and pain-free running (including a half marathon, dammit), and after making a public announcement about an ambitious goal, my knee started bothering me. This time, it had the decency to wait a couple of days.

Monday I hopped on the treadmill, eager to bust out my first three-mile "official" training run. I planned for three easy, steady-state miles. I actually spent hours psyching myself up, since I don't know when the last time I ran for thirty minutes on the treadmill at the same pace was...my hamster-wheel syndrome has left me doing lots and lots of intervals lately.

So color me shocked when my biggest challenge wasn't some kind of mental game. Nope. It was the twinge directly beneath my right kneecap that I haven't felt in months now. I kept going for a few minutes, since sometimes I get a little tiny pain that goes away after the first quarter mile or so.

But nope. So I fought back tears, hopped on the stupid recumbent bike, and felt sorry for myself for the next 40 minutes or so.

So what have I been doing (besides, of course, trying not to panic or overreact)? Quad-strengthening exercises from my PT last year. Elliptical and recumbent bike. P90X strength stuff. I'm going to try my damnedest to be patient, because even if I have to wait until February to start really training, I still have plenty of time to work on my speed.

In the meantime...I'll keep making lots of eggs.