my knee held up…kind of

So I had told you that I was going to attempt a 10k last weekend to see how my knee held up. And it did. Kind of.


It didn’t matter because I had such a great morning with my family! (My parents came to help with the boys…these photos are courtesy of my dad using MY camera which is freaking out lately. hmmmm…a new one is on my wish list!)


First, the boys ran in the 3/4 mile Kids Run. They had so much fun! T-man took off ahead of daddy and J-boy. Daddy had to encourage J-boy along the way…but T-man just kept running ahead of them. He LOVED it.


S-bam brought up the rear with my mom and I. He actually ran a lot of it…probably up to 1/2 mile as fast as his little three year old legs could take him! He was smiling the whole way.


Then it was time for the 10k. I had set my watch for intervals…trying to be good to my knee. I started out with 2 minute run, 1 minute walk intervals and my knee felt pretty good.

After the first loop around the automall, we headed on to the trails…I run these trails a lot and knew the hills would kill my knee so I didn’t have great expectations and was just planning on walking when I had to. But the best part about heading out of the automall loop was my parents and boys were standing there cheering us on…they had realized they could stand there and watch us head out. Loved hearing them cheer for dadddy…


And then me just a bit behind him (I had already started my run/walk intervals…)


The first hill was an extreme downhill at mile 1.25 or so and I walked it. No sense in injuring myself further. From about mile 2.5 on I kind of broke out of my intervals and just went with my gut. Lots of up and down hills meant lots of walking. I just concentrated on keeping a good walking pace and then running when it was flat.

I was able to see my friends on the turn around and hubby just a bit behind them. By mile 4 I was walking quite a bit.

My knee just felt like someone had stuck a screwdriver into the side and would twist it when I picked up the pace.

In the end I finished just 5 minutes off my 10k time on July 4th. I felt great because I had walked so much. And I was super happy to have finished just before the skies opened up and downpoured…hubby and I hightailed it to the car, went to breakfast and headed home to relieve my parents. I took an ice bath as soon as I got home and stretched and foam rolled. Honestly, my knee wasn’t any worse for the wear the next day.
I even did a walk/run treadmill workout yesterday and although I can feel that it’s not 100%…it’s not too bad. It gives me hope.

I started physical therapy yesterday and am very pleased at the results. Here's to successful therapy!

Definitely NOT doing the Half in 1 1/2 weeks…was considering the relay but after Sunday decided it’s not worth it. I AM, however, going to run the 5k. I can’t stand the idea that all my friends are doing the event and I’ll just stand around. Plus this event has been on my mind since March!!! 3.1 is totally do-able with my knee’s current state. I might not PR (probably WON’T) but I’m excited to be part of the event anyway.
And the Half? I have a few on list for 2011…
Kristen