How About That!

Well, I either did something semi-courageous, or something really stupid this morning! 

A week ago, while photographing a basketball tournament, I had to get back to my display area in a hurry.  So, I ran across the gym floor to my area.  I never did feel any kind of pain or discomfort at all in my knee.  In the past when I did something like that, I always felt a sharp pain or two, or at least, some degree of discomfort in my knee.

I've had this on my mind for a week and a half now and it occurred to me that it might be possible for me to at least try to get in some kind of walk jog effort.  If the knee flared up, I could always stop!

So, I put on my running shorts and my Hood To Coast singlet for the first time since my knee injury on December 24th, 2011.  I can't tell you how good that felt just to put on my running shorts, even though I knew it was going to be iffy.

Since my running shoes had a bunch of miles on them already, I thought it best to head down to English Landing and run, excuse me, walk/jog, on the soft trail.  It was also a better decision since I wasn't sure about running on any hard surface.

Well, I started my watch and walked about a quarter mile or so, and then began a light jog.  I felt nothing in the knee with regards to any degree of pain, so I kept going until I felt like I should stop and walk.  Well, that just never happened!  I kept jogging, but soon got to a pace that was more of a slow run rather than jogging.

Well, I ended up running 2.5 miles in 33:58 counting the first quarter mile of walking and around a mile of jogging.  My last half mile was at a 10:30 pace.  Probably shouldn't have chanced it, but what the hell!

It really felt great to just be able to run.  I think a combination of cycling and glucosamine/chondroitin has helped my knee situation.  Anyway, I'd like to think so.

Okay, now what?  Well, I'm thinking about riding one day and running the next.  We'll see what happens, but it sure felt good to run at least one day again!