Race fever

I've been bitten by the bug.

Last weekend I ran in my first race since well before kids. I've actually only run two races before--an 8K in Portland almost a decade ago and the Hood to Coast relay with a team from work back when Garrett and I worked at InFocus. I've never considered myself a full-fledged runner, though before the Hood to Coast I fancied myself on my way.

In 2005, the summer after we moved to Manhattan, I was running in Central Park and did something to seriously injure my knee. It was a gradual injury, in that I was not aware of the exact moment in happened but I started feeling some discomfort mid-run and by the time I finished I had trouble walking home. I limped around for several days and took a nasty dive or two down the subway stairs before I finally got it checked out and was told I had developed tendonitis in my Iliotibial (IT) Band. I was prescribed several months of physical therapy that was finally canceled because my insurance company decided I should be cured by now, though I wasn't. I was better, but never pain free when running.

I got pregnant somewhere around the time PT ended and if you're familiar with this blog, you know what life has been like since then. Not a lot of time, energy, or motivation to devote toward healing from an old running injury. But last fall when we joined the Y and I started exercising again with some regularity I decided to give running another shot. I've tried several times in the past few years to get in a run here and there but my knee has always been an issue. I've been nervous that my tendonitis would keep me from ever really running again. But I don't really want to accept that, so when I started running again this time I just stopped or walked when my knee started hurting and got back to running when the pain went away. And slowly, eventually, I was able to run farther and farther. At first I couldn't run a mile. But leading up to last weekend I was able to run six miles without a problem. It seemed I was on my way.

The race on Saturday was so fun. Cabell came to the 'burbs and ran it with me and I was so grateful for the company and the chance to do something fun like that with my big bro. I was even pretty pleased with my race time. I finished 10k in one hour, 41.9 seconds. But I was hugely disappointed because my knee started bugging me at mile 3 and never let up, and the rest of the weekend I was it was painful just to walk on. I was pretty nervous that I seriously did a number on it, but late yesterday it started feeling better and today it's back to almost completely normal. No pain at all. So I'm hopeful that after another day or two of rest I'll be able to get back to pounding the pavement. I want to run another race!

I looked at some races online and there's a 10 mile trail run over a hilly, somewhat cross-country type course in July. Sounds fun to me. It feels good to get out and move again! It was also awesome to have Garrett and Reenie and the kids at the finish line cheering Cabell and me on to the finish. Maybe next time they won't have to bundle up so much (winter coats, boots, and scarves in mid-April!).