Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

With snow and ice this weekend, my long run got pushed to Monday. To be honest,  I really didn't think I was going to run 8 miles. My plan was to run home from work and add on miles as necessary. Up until 4:30 when I got out of my last meeting for the day, I really didn't think I was going to run. I was so tired and just didn't feel like it.

I knew though that if I skipped that run,  I wouldn't be running next weekend. So off I went. I eased into the first mule and felt great but I ran it in just under 9 and I knew I needed to slow down if I was going to make it all the way home. I actually ran clear across the National Mall, which I had never done. (It's not as exciting as it sounds when the Mall is one big pit of dirt right now.)

I hit the Mall around Mile 3 and right around 4, my knee started to bother me. It wasn't the sudden onset of pain that it usually is and it actually bothered me more in the back of my knee than the front,  where the pain usually is. I stopped and did some standing calm shells, stretched my calves and took off again,  slower this time, focusing on my gait.

I'm happy to say that I finished. I only walked for about a block of the whole run but I stopped a few times to stretch my calves,  which seem to correlate with my knee pain.

Tonight,  I'm obviously resting. I will,  however, take a page of of my PT book and foam roll each calf for 5 minutes,  do some bridges and clam shells, maybe some gentle yoga and call it a night.

As for the rest of the week, this is what I'm thinking:

Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 3 miles easy
Thursday: 3 easy or Yoga (or both)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: Yoga

The week is kind of up in the air since I did my long run on Monday and I don't want to push it. I definitely want to do my 10 on Saturday since The Pilot should be able to run it with me. His training is in similar shape to mine (minus the injury) and I'd really like for us to be able to run together, though if I'm running the way I ran last night, I'll be by myself for most of the run...which is fine.

I already know that I'm not going to run the race I want to. My only goal is to finish pain-free but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I talked to a PT last week who recommended insoles so I picked those up this week. They might have helped since the pain wasn't as bad as it normally was and I didn't have to stop, but I'm not sure. What I am going to do is keep trying to work things out with some added PT exercises to my day over the next 2 weeks until race day (and beyond that) and hey, maybe I'll have a strong run at Cherry Blossom.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, this experience has been so humbling. It has been 2 years since the Cleveland Half...the last race that I ran strong at. I PRd sure, but more importantly, I ran strong and I finished with a smile on my face. I'm aching to have that feeling again.