Quick summary:
Saturday was a bad long run. Again. My right knee gave out at mile 8 of the 13 mile run. I made it back to the Park in one piece (thanks to two considerate HF coaches), but spent a few minutes panicking about not being able to run the Marathon.

Location: Memorial to Rice to Montrose…and back
Distance: 13 miles (actual miles run =
Time: approximately 1:34:47
Pace: ~ 11:50
(I stopped my watch when I started having knee problems)

• I arrived at the park just in time for the 5:15am start time (yay me!), and started off at a good pace with a group of 15 other Reds. I was feeling pretty good and well-rested. Other than that, the first hour was pretty uneventful.
• By the time we got to Rice, my right knee started feeling stiff. I didn’t want to get distracted by it like I did during the 20K, so I tried ignoring it……but by the time I crossed the 59 bridge on Montrose, I had to stop. My knee felt like it was going to explode. Every step created a deep, throbbing pain that circled my knee down to my ankle. Ow. I tried walking it off then running again, but I couldn’t run for more than a minute before the pain came back. Pretty soon, I was having trouble walking. Worst of all, I was angry and frustrated that I couldn’t finish the run….and I started thinking the worst about my knee and continuing to train until January.
• Eventually, a HF coach stopped to ask if I was OK. I told him what was going on with my knee, and he suggested some stretching moves…..all of which were pretty painful. In the end, he and an assistant coach walked me back to the starting point. It was a long, painful walk. Plus, I was on the verge of crying from the frustration, which would have made a bad situation worse. bleh.
• We made it back to the Park, and I immediately went to see the Tree Doctors. The Tree Doctors are a group of sports medicine docs that stand by one of the big oak trees in the Park after every Saturday morning run. They’re available to check out any injuries we might have after the long runs…..a nice perk of the HFit program. As it turns out, the pain in my knee was because my IT band was inflamed. Ahh, the infamous IT band. I was relieved that it wasn’t anything more serious. The Tree Doc gave me some stretching exercises and a prescription for physical therapy.
• I got home from work around 8:30p and made it to the gym by 9:30p. I started off on the elliptical machine but after 15 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to get onto the treadmill. I got a quick 20 minute run in, and it felt great. No knee pain….though it was just a quick run.
• On Wednesday, I’m seeing a sports medicine doc at my clinic, Baylor Family Medicine. Dr. Corboy specializes in women’s running injuries…and is a runner herself. Very cool. Hopefully she’ll say it’s OK for me to run in this Sunday’s Oshman’s 25K race.