The Bees Knees

I’ve been having some minor knee issues the last month or so.  It started as some unusual sensations during some of my neighborhood runs, but never surfaced into pain, until the day after my 30 mile run.  My legs were sore, but so was my left knee. It went away, mostly after a couple of days, but some lingering sensation just medial to the patella remained.  So I took eight days out of running, got a couple of short runs in this last week, and worried incessantly until todays long run.  On Friday I picked up a knee compression support sleeve.  How’d my run go?  It went well.

Some of my fellow Stone Mill 50 Milers have been getting together for training runs, but they’re typically doing Saturday runs.  I put it out there that I’d be there today, and one guy decided to run with me.  It was nice having someone to chat with on a long run, and that’s what we did, chatted pretty much the entire run.

The weather gods decided to dump a cold front on us last night, leaving the area cold, and rainy.  Perfect weather for a dirt trail along a river!  It turned out to not be bad.  It was rainy as we started out, and much of the trail was covered in leaves and vegetation, so my soaks were soaked quite quickly.  At some point, the rain stopped, but I’m not quite sure when that was. 

Our goal was to run about 10 miles. We ended up doing a leg of the course that took us to the C&O Canal along the Potomac River, then back, a total of 12.15 miles according to R2D2 (my trusty phone). 

My knee held out quite well.  No pain, and only occasionally did I feel anything reminding me of it, and that was through some relatively hilly terrain.  We finished up fine, and I was pleasantly surprised to not be fatigued.  It felt more like a 5 mile run than a 12 mile run. I’m feeling good about my knee now.  I fully expect it to be somewhat sore tomorrow, but as long as it’s not anything sharp, I’ll be happy. 

Here some phone pics I took at the C&O Canal.  I didn’t bring my camera this run.