The stupid right knee run

Average pace: 4:55/km

Location: Burnaby Lake, CCW
Distance: 11.03 km
Weather: Hazy sun, high cloud
Temp: 20-22ºC
Wind: moderate
Calories burned: 782
Total distance to date: 1591 km

The day started overcast but as run time approached the sky continued to brighten, so I knew conditions would be improving rather than deteriorating. On the plus side the temperature was noticeably lower, even slightly below seasonal and this made for a much more comfortable run, despite it being perhaps even more humid than Monday. The sun started breaking through the clouds but for the most part all I got was hazy sun and cloud until the final km or so when the cloud cover finally burned off completely. And by then I had other things to be concerned with.

My pace started out decently and I felt pretty good. I was confident I could knock at least a few seconds off Monday’s Africa hot pace. Somewhere between 7 and 8 km I felt an odd twinge on the side of my right knee. Other than noting it was odd (I had done nothing to the knee or leg that might have caused some kind of strain) I did nothing and kept running. The twinge grew more prominent and turned to what I would describe as discomfort. Something was clearly not right. By the 10 km point it was just plain old-fashioned pain and I mustered along to the 11 km mark and ended my run there through sheer will, even picking the pace up slightly as I hobbled through the final 400m or so. My pace bottomed out at 5:20 at one point and the final km was a sluggish 5:14. Considering how the knee felt by then that was actually pretty good.

It hurt on the walk home — not a good sign. Once home I iced it 15 minutes on/off for 1 hour and 45 minutes. An hour after the last pack the side of the knee is still cool to the touch.

My best guess is I pulled one or more tendons. How this happened is a mystery as it happened without any warning. before or during the run. I went from twinge to OW MY KNEE.

I’m going to see how it feels when I get up tomorrow and go from there, possibly having the doc check it out or just rest it for the remainder of the week.

I seem to be jinxed. Whenever I hit a new milestone something always happens. I’m hoping this is fairly minor and although I probably won’t be running Friday I still hope to be back out there ASAP.

I ended up tying monday’s pace, which is decent considering how I felt for the last couple of km. If the knee had behaved I would have beaten it, I’m sure.

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