29K yesterday morning and Advil as my new best friend?

Yesterday's run was technically much better than the previous week. Mostly because I finished the whole thing without having to stop for long periods of time.

However, the challenge is that the pain in my knee that appeared last week around the 24K mark appeared this week around the 8K mark. When I hit the 14K mark, it was pretty bad. Thanks to the ladies who were there for us providing water top-ups - I asked if anyone had any Advil - and I was given a gelcap. It took about 45 minutes to kick in, but then the pain pretty much went away. It enabled me to finish the run! (Is that performance enhancing!?) I liked the course this week a bit better than last week. I found it to be a more enjoyable run - even though there were 2 long hills - one being the very last leg.

Back to the Advil - I heard from a few people who say they take Advil before any long run, and if it's a really long run, they take 1 or 2 more throughout the race. This may seem like second nature to many - but I rarely take any type of medicine. I can't remember the last time I had an Advil or a Tylenol - it may have been the last time I had surgery or maybe a Tylenol Cold when I had a high temp. So, I'm not used to poppin' pills. This definitely helped mask the pain.... Trouble is - this morning - wow - the knee was on fire. All night I could feel that it was warm and puffy.

After I finished the run on Sunday, one of the trainers from The Running Room overhead me say that I had knee pain. He said, immediately: "Stop running." "I don't want you running anymore until you see someone." (About my knee) Whoa - ok. So, I booked into Performance Chiropractic and saw Garret this morning. (I normally see Suzanne there - and she was on her honeymoon - congrats Suzanne!) Garrett did a pretty elaborate review of my knee. After poking, stretching, adjusting and moving everything around my knee and asking me a lot of questions - we came to the conclusion that it could be my body getting used to my orthotics. I had been warned to 'ease into' my orthotics - but I didn't really do that. I ran 8K, then 16K, then right up to 29K... And it was on that last 29K that my knee started acting up. Garret also figured out that my right leg is a bit shorter than my left - and so my left leg would impact harder and that may have something to do with it. He gave me a new time-frame for wearing in my orthotics by wearing them a little bit at a time and working my way up to longer distances. The good news, Garett said, is that it wasn't inside the knee where there can be wear and tear. It appears to be a ligament issue where it is being stressed abnormally. I'm also supposed to ice it on and off.

These next few weeks should be interesting - we have another long run this weekend - 32K! - but I will be in Toronto and North Carolina. So, I am going to take it easy this week and see if I can run 10K or so without pain on Saturday. Then see if I can do some more on Sunday.

Also, I should mention that I had another great massage on Friday from Tania - I can take more pressure now and we're working on my other tight spots like my hamstrings, quads, etc.

And, my blisters are doing better. With a combination of second skin, NuSkin and bandages - I am able to run without feeling them.

So, this week will be a bit of a breather with no gym or running until the weekend.

“Anybody can be a runner, ... We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It's the easiest sport.” Bill Rodgers