Pain Pain Go Away!

It's early, early Sunday morning!  I've been awake since about 4:30, Bryan has a really bad toothache that is keeping us both awake.  Hoping to get him into an emergency dental place ASAP today.

So since I was awake so early I realized the women's Olympic marathon was on!  I turned it on to see where our USA ladies were, and sadly, nowhere near the lead pack.  Tiki Gelana from Ethiopia took it with a finish time of 2:23:07 setting a new women's Olympic record!  That's AMAZING!  Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher from the US came in 10th and 11th with a finish time of 2:25:51 and 2:26:07.

So that brings me to my run yesterday, 13.3 miles with a finish time of 2:30:05!! LOL!  Of course it was a training run, and with the temps rising to become the hottest day this year, slow and steady was just fine!!  I actually arrived too early.  Now that it's summer time some of our runs start at 7 and some at 8.  I showed up at 6:30 thinking it was a 7:00 start, it was about 6:42 and no lights were on in LuLuLemon and no one else was waiting around...so I checked the event time and it was an 8:00 start!  UGH!  Luckily I knew the route we were running and knew that after our first 12 miles we finish with a 4 mile loop around the waterfront downtown.  So since I was so early I decided to do the 4 mile loop on my own first, then would only have to do the 12 with the group.  I was actually excited about it because the last loop always seems takes the longest, so it was nice to get it out of the way!

Solo 4 miles on a beautiful morning and location!!

Another view from my run of Downtown Portland!

So for you math nerds out there, you probably are thinking 4miles+12miles=16miles, but I said I only ran 13.3...Well I had an unfortunate mishap about 9 miles into my run that prevented me from completing all 16. I started to feel a pinching sensation on the outside of my right knee.  It wasn't severe at first, so I kept going.    We stopped for a water break and bathroom break about mile 11 and I did my best to walk around and shake it out.  Once we picked our running back up, the pain was instantly back and getting more intense.  I mentioned it to my pace leader, at this point everyone else in our group had turned back not wanting to run as many miles today, so it was just the two of us now.  She told me to listen to my body and offered to walk with me.  I declined and kept going, once we were going downhill the pain wasn't as bad.  We made it to our turn around point and started heading back.  We stopped once again to fill up our water bottles and when we started to run again the pain was sharp and getting more severe.  I told her to continue on without me, she had 20 miles to get in and was only about 8 in and I didn't want to hold her back.  I swallowed my pride and decided I couldn't continue on anymore.  With that being said, I still had about 2.5miles to make it back to my car!!  Choking back tears I called Bryan for some emotional support, but before I could tell him, he went into how bad he was suffering from his toothache, so I had to become his emotional support!  When he finally asked me "how my run went?" I broke down and told him what happened.  He offered to come get me, but he was easily over an hour away and it would be quicker for me to just walk back.  

I think I was most frustrated because mentally I was having a great run.  I felt like I could have easily done 20 miles where as last week it was tough.  So to be taken out physically was draining.  I wasn't sure the severity of the injury, I was worried it would take me out of training for a while, worried I pushed myself too far and should have stopped at the first sign of pain.  But aches and pains come with running, so I think I was just hoping it was nothing serious.  

Finally back to my car, now walking was even painful.  I made the long drive home and went to get out of my car and could hardly bend my knee.  Now I was really concerned.  Limping into the house, Bryan came to my side to help brace me to the couch.  I immediately put an ice pack on it and tried to stay off of it as much as possible the remainder of the day.  

When I woke up this morning my first thoughts were 'how's me knee?'  When I got up to go downstairs I was surprised at how much better it actually felt!  It's still stiff and a little achy, but nothing compared to yesterday.  So I'm hoping with a few days rest I will be good as new for next weeks long run!  

So lesson learned, when they say "listen to your body"  take it seriously!  I could have prevented the injury from being as severe if I would have stopped right away, but then again, maybe not.  I'll never know.  Running comes with it's advantages and disadvantages.  Injury is, unfortunately, a part of it.  Most runners will get hurt at some point, especially as your miles increase.  I felt like I was doing everything right yesterday.  I wasn't running fast, or over-extending myself, but still managed to get hurt.  I'll never know why it happened because there wasn't a specific incident.  All I can do now is take care of myself and really listen to my body!  It will be hard to take a few days off, but it's necessary. 

So far not a good weekend for Bryan or myself!  We make a great pair right now!  Just put us on the injured list!  But we'll be back soon, so don't count us out!!

Hope you had a better, injury-free weekend!  Stay safe and hydrated out there!

Have you ever had an injury stop you during a run?

Shalane Flanagan