The sun exists!

I haven't seen the sun in several months so this weird, bright object in the sky confused me this morning. Despite that confusion (or maybe because of it) I was able to motivate myself to head out to the greenway before noon, in 32 degree temps for a run. The worst part was not the cold, although I did run with a light jacket for the first time today. The worst part was running against the wind for the first 1.5 miles. The run back to the car was with the wind at my back and that strange, bright object in the sky shining down on me.

This is my 2nd run since taking a nearly 3 week break so I'm still getting sore while getting used to it again. So far it's the good kind of sore. Tomorrow start's L (and maybe N's) training which will probably be the C25K program. I'm thinking about taking the knee brace off for that since it will be a lot shorter than what my knee is already used to.

Total: 3 miles, 28:50

I'm a runner... again

After 2 weeks and 6 days of rest (laziness) I finally started running again. Actually it was my plan all along to take a significant amount of time off after my race on Thanksgiving. There were things (the entire right side of my body) that needed to heal and stopping for a few days or even 1 week had not really helped so I needed longer. I was going to start back a little sooner, but the possibility of breaking my neck on a patch of ice kept me from doing that.

So tonight after work I FINALLY got back out there. I started in Centennial Park and ran part of the loop before cutting over to West End, passing a guy being pulled from his car, frisked and arrested in the middle of the road, down 21st, up the "bitch hill", past the children's hospital, back up West End and finished in front of Cumberland Transit. I kept it slow (or tried to) and stopped myself well short of the 5-7 miles I would have loved to have run. Tonight was an easy 5k in 28:50 (fairly consistent with 9:14, 9:19, 9:25) which was about as slow as I could make myself go. So far all my previous injuries are not bothering me which is a good sign. Even if they do pop back up on future runs (please please no) at least I had 1 good run pain free! And for some reason I seem to always end right in front of Cumberland Transit everytime I run 3.1 miles even though it's always a different route.. maybe that's a sign.

Speaking of 5k, there are 2 people (we'll call them L and N) who better be ready for the training that starts Monday and the 5k they will run FAR sooner than they think they will (yes, you can do it before 2012). N definitely has no excuses since she has run a half marathon before, something I haven't done yet. L has no excuses because I refuse to let her have any :)

Getting anxious

After my 5 mile race on Thanksgiving I decided to take some time off to let me ailing muscle or whatever it is in my right leg heal (hopefully). It probably wasn't very smart to throw a snowboarding trip in their, but Snowshoe had some epic conditions and we were itching for the first trip of the year :)

It's been 2.5 weeks now and I'm really anxious to get back out there, but yesterday we had freezing rain and I'm not about to have my comeback run end up with me busting my ass on an ice patch! Hopefully sometime this week I'll be able to get back into it and maybe without pain?

Easy 3ish

I've been planning on a longer run (hopefully around 8ish) this weekend so I planned an easy 3 miler for today. The funny thing about running is that it's introduced me to muscles, bones, bodily functions/reactions, etc. that I never knew existed. Tonight my knee and my previously punctured shin felt great the whole time, but a previously undiscovered muscle (or something) between my ankle and calf on the inside of my right leg started hurting. I'm not even entirely sure how to stretch that particular area, but I guess I better figure it out!

On another note I ran past that metal pole that Nashville Public Works was so kind to leave sticking up in the middle of a sidewalk. I ran into that 1 week ago today and last Friday, after getting a lunchtime tetanus shot, I emailed the city through the Nashville.gov website. I knew it wasn't the right department, but there's no "get that f-ing pole out of the ground" contact listed. To my surprise someone actually replied to me 17 minutes later (how's that for a State employee?!) and copied in the correct person who then asked me for the specific location. I sent that and she said she'd have someone from the sign shop investigate. Well tonight, exactly 1 week later, they had reattached the sign that was supposed to be attached to the pole in the first place.. ya know, the one that would have prevented me from running into a shin high metal pole? Yeah, that one.

I still question the level of retardation it takes to:

• Decide to put a sign in the middle of a sidewalk
• Remove the sign while leaving a 12 inch metal pole sticking out of the ground
• Decide that there's even a need for a sign saying "No Parking" when it's a 2 lane road with nowhere for even the biggest idiot to mistake for roadside parking

Regardless, I was impressed that it was taken care of at all let alone in a week or less.

Cool Runnings

Tonight was my 2nd run in sub-50 degree temps and my 1st since the metal pole incident. My leg is still tender to touch, but walking/running on it doesn't hurt at all and it didn't give me any problems during the run. We went 5 miles with some decent hills at a pretty slow pace. I will soon be purchasing gloves and a new running hat :)

Nashville Public Works employees are lazy

Tonight was my first real night run where the majority of the run was in the dark. It was the first time in a while that I've run 2 days in a row, but after 2 miles I settled in and felt good. Unlike last week my legs felt fine and unlike yesterday my lunch didn't try to come up. Everything was fine until somewhere around 3.5 miles when I almost fell down after running into something that didn't make my leg feel very good.

What was it? A metal post sticking up about 1 foot out of the SIDEWALK that looked like it used to be the bottom of a stop sign. A little odd since it wasn't at a corner, but in the middle of a damn sidewalk with no roads around it. Thanks Vanderbilt, you suck ass! It's more of a slight puncture wound than a cut, but it was 20-30 minutes before I could finish my 5.1 mile run (yes I'm an idiot) and get home to ice it so it's bruising and swelling nicely now. Just when I thought I was getting my groove back (and thinking of changing my name to Stella) I find a new and creative way to injure myself. The moral of the story is if you run at night LOOK AT THE GROUND.. oh and also look out for cars :)

Any advice on whether or not to run with a small puncture wound anyone? I was already planning on resting tomorrow, but wanted to have a decent 5-7 mile run this weekend.

Here it is before the bruising/swelling started...

Very Short 2.5

Every now and then you have to have a bad run right? Well today was most definitely that day for me. It didn't help that I wasn't at 100% after the Halloween party last night, but my shins started hurting out of the blue and I struggled to make it a very short 2.5 miles :( Looks like I'll be taking a couple of days off.

Short, but sweet

After 7 days of rest I decided to test out my crappy knee at the greenway. I made sure I wore my knee brace (duh!) this time and kept it to 2.5 miles at a roughly 10:00 pace. It felt very weird to run less than 3-4 miles and I didn't even really sweat or feel tired at all. But that's ok because my knee did not make me want to scream at any point during the run and that was my primary purpose today, to run and not injure my knee.

I knee-d Zoomy's advice...

The last time I ran was last Wednesday. My knee hurt so bad after that run that I could feel it just while walking for the next 2 days even with my knee brace. That definitely scared me and made me take more time off to rest than I have in the past. Yesterday was my 4th full day of no running which of course is giving me growing withdrawal symptoms.

So my question to Zoomy (or anyone else with more experience than me) is how long should I wait this time before getting back out there? Obviously whenever I run again I will be keeping it short and slow. I already know I can't run tomorrow so if I take today off (or possibly hit the bike today) then Wednesday would be the next day I could run which will have given me an entire week off. Just looking for advice since what I've been doing has obviously not been working :(

My Knee Brace Search

I'm on day 2 of rest after last week's record breaking (for me) 20.1 miles so I figured I'd post about something that has taken nearly as much time as running has; my search for a knee brace that fits and works.

At first I tried the Jumper's Knee Strap and almost immediately noticed that it made things worse rather than better. It didn't matter how tight or loose it was, where it was placed, etc. it just was not what I needed at all.



So I returned that and tried a sleeve type of brace that had metal along the sides to provide support. I had no idea how big around my knee was so I got the small size. I went back to work and put it on and it felt a little tight, but provided support. A few minutes later my leg was tingling from where it was cutting off circulation so I returned it and got the large size. It felt much better, but again after about 30 minutes my leg felt weird and circulation was still being affected. This time the top of it fit just fine, but I've always had huge calves and that's where the problem was. So basically that meant any kind of elastic brace was out of the question :(


I had been going to Wal-Mart for these and I was running out of options for what they sold. I was down to 2 that were any kind of step up from what I had already tried. Both wrapped around my knee so I was able to give them a try before buying them. The more expensive one bunched at the back of my knee so while it would have been fine for just walking around the office, it was definitely not an option for running. The other one provided the adjustability I needed and seemed to be ok to run in as well so that's what I've been wearing for the past 2 days. I haven't run in it yet, but so far it's providing the support I need and doesn't cut off my circulation like the others so hopefully my 3rd time is the charm.

20 Mile Week!

I was not feeling fantastic today after going out last night, getting 5 hours sleep, helping a friend move and eating a delicious unhealthy lunch at Hooters. But I sucked it up and headed to the greenway with my new Forerunner 205. Somehow I managed 4.1 miles which put my total for the week at 20.1 miles, the longest week I've had so far! I had to go the extra .1 so I could have OVER 20 miles :)

My knee is starting to hurt a little and my legs are just flat out tired so I think I will be taking the next couple of days off. Maybe I'll go for a run downtown on Tuesday.

If my knee was as super as my feet..

Today is day 2 of taking another break to make my knee happy. It's also day 2 of breaking in my new Superfeet insoles. Hopefully both will be ready in time for my 5k on Saturday. I think I might run 1 or 2 miles on Thursday so I don't completely forget how, but that'll probably be it before the 5k.

In Theaters Today: Return of the Knee

I went out for another easy run today and not very far into it I start feeling the beginning of that same pain in my knee :( I ended up running 3.25 miles over all, but decided to try it with lots of rest between the running. I ran the first 1.5 miles straight, but the rest was done in small segments. That seemed to help at least with the immediate pain, but I'm not sure if it does any good or bad long term.

My grocery trip tonight included a knee strap which I figured I'd at least try and see if that helped at all. Tomorrow is an off day and I'll re-evaluate on Tuesday.

Soles 4 Souls 5K - Registered

Well hopefully I'll be ready by next Saturday because I just dropped off my registration for the Soles 4 Souls 5k. Oh yeah.. and hopefully my knee works then too!

Speaking of that, my knee is definitely feeling better after rest and ice. I would love to go run today, but I don't want to rush anything so it'll be at least tomorrow before I get back out there.

I don't knee-d this!!

After my run this past Saturday I noticed my knee was hurting a little, but attributed it to the hills I had just run that I wasn't used to. The pain went away until 2 days ago when it hurt a little after my 5k practice run, but again it went away. It didn't hurt at all during my run last night, but after I was done it sure did. I iced it when I got home and then put a heating pad on it before bed, but it's still hurting this morning. I guess I won't be running for at least a couple of days so I don't do any more damage :(