The Status of Things

It has been ten days since the Salida Marathon and I still can not quite run yet. It think that I am close though and that makes me feel better and I am confident that I will be running again very soon.

I still can't run but yesterday I had a great (great for me) ride on the bike and a nice hike in Palmer Park later that evening with Melissa and Roxy. During my ride I did not feel any discomfort in my leg at all but about 30 minutes into the hike I started feeling it. At this point I am suspecting what I thought all along. Yes I am experiencing pain, discomfort and stiffness in my left knee but I am fairly sure that it not in the knee itself. The knee does not hurt when I am sitting, or just doing normal walking or riding even. It is when I start to really crank it walking or hiking that I begin to feel the back of my knee tighten, followed by the outer side of my knee.

The original injury I believe now is in my hamstring and that is what is causing my issues. I say this because for the entire past week, from the beginning to now, I have always felt "something" in the back of my leg. Today it is constant... not pain per se, but for lack of a better way to describe it, I can feel a "knot" in the back of my leg a few inches above my left knee. That knot has been persistent and hamstring injuries can present themselves as knee pain.

A hamstring injury I can deal with, especially one such as this. Muscle heals quicker than tendons and the days where I have not had any pain or discomfort are encouraging to me as that may mean this "down time" will not be that long.

So... Damage control... I am going do Denver today to see a specialist about some inserts for my running shoes that may prevent further injuries in the future. Annie is going with me so we should have a fun time on the ride. Weather is supposed to move in tonight but hopefully it will not get bad until after we get home.

Did some research and talked to some people here in the Springs and found a good sports massage therapist and I have an appointment for that on Friday afternoon. This will hopefully promote the healing process by increasing the blood flow to the injury and by doing some other nifty little things.

I'm still hurt and I still can not run. Things are in the works to remedy this issue and hopefully prevent any further ones. On a good note I am confident still that this will pass quickly and training will resume before long. It is hard to stay optimistic at times as I do miss getting out and being able to run. I promised myself yesterday when I was riding that no matter what the conditions are, rain, wind, heat, etc, that once I am able to run I will not complain about any run and I will be just super grateful to be out there again.