It's Always Something - Part II

Now it's my knee.

It hurts. And bad at that. My knees have always bothered me. After 10 years of bartending and overextending my knees over the speed rails to grab heavy glass racks, my knees have never been the same. Sitting with them bent for over an hour at work causes them to fill with pain and forget about riding on a plane, it's torture. After a six mile run on Saturday my left knee hurt so bad I could barely walk, then after 2 days off it felt better. Then tonight after another 6 miler the pain is back. It hurts when I touch my foot to the ground, it hurts when I apply any pressure, it hurts when I bend it out and in again.

I read up about it and it sounds exactly like runner's knee except for the 40 miles per week of running that people usually do before experiencing it. Ha. That's kind of a joke. How about 12-17 miles?!!? But I have recently doubled my mileage and it's gotten way worse so who knows. My husband says I have more aches and pains than anyone he has ever met.

Did I mention that I also turned 31 yesterday?
Oh how I love getting old(er).

Here's some birthday pics.

Work lunch on Friday with my birthday pineapple.


Driving to Sarasota, another Florida sunset.


Birthday dinner with J.


Mmmm...cake.


Good times.

Anyway, had a good run with Jeremy on Saturday, We left on a 6 mile loop around 9am on a bright and sunny day (hot). It was actually a pretty nice run and it was fun to run with him. He ran at my pace without making me feel like he was being held back and in return, he inadvertently made me run faster. We finished the 6.02 mile run in under an hour (59:24) and that was with one minute walk breaks every 10 minutes. YAY! Of course, the last mile was brutal as we ran home around 10am facing the afternoon sun and 90 degree temperatures. But I did it and it was kind of nice to get in the sun for a change.

I took Sunday and Monday off and ran tonight in my favorite running conditions. Soggy and humid. The humidity doesn't bother me as long as there is a light rain involved and after a morning shower turned into an all-day event (an unusual circumstance for Miami) I knew I had to take advantage.

I ran two loops around campus with an extra street to make a nice 6.11 mile run. I also did it all by myself, which is the longest run I have done to date alone. I felt great. I did minute walk breaks at every mile, but still ran a decent speed. I finished in 1:03:14 and felt like I had only run my usual 3. I was on cloud nine until I started walking and felt my knee. Now Jeremy says I need to rest it and not run for a few weeks so it doesn't get injured before I start my real training in October. Sigh. Just when I was starting to get warmed up.

Favorite running song of the day: "Days Go By" Dirty Vegas