14 Miles…or Less

Yesterday morning, I was up before the sun to run with the running club. This always gives me a little chuckle because my family would never peg me as someone who would willingly get up that early, especially on a weekend. In fact, I'm right there with them. But running club is oh-so-worth-it.

We met at my favorite trail at 6:30am. It was so nice out...dare I say it was cool? I debated between going 12 miles and 14. When a group of my friends said they were going 18, I declared I would go 14, so I would get one more mile of running with them before turning around to finish on my own.

It felt so good to be running with the group again. We chatted about books we've been reading and movies we've recently seen. We discussed race schedules and deals on sneakers. I gave them updates on wedding plans, and they filled me in on how everyone's training has been going.

I ate a few sport beans at mile 4 and took a gel at mile 6. More sport beans and some Gatorade were consumed at mile 10, and then my stomach growled the rest of the way back. I was hungry! I usually eat an English muffin with peanut butter before a morning run, but we were out of muffins. I used a sandwich thin instead, but I guess it just wasn't enough!

I was going along pretty well, actually picking up speed on the way back. But around mile 12.5, my right knee started hurting. At first it didn't seem bad, but then I felt it get worse, almost as if something was swelling and making it stiff. I decided that I should walk the rest of the way back. I've been injured before and I don't want to go back!

In the end I ran 12.65 miles at a 9:39 pace and walked an additional 1.35 miles.

So, I guess I should have signed up for 12 after all.

To aid in recovery I:

• stretched really well
• iced my knee on the way home
• took ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory)
• sat in an ice bath
• foam rolled (hurts so good!)

I decided to try the foam rolling and tennis ball rolling exercises laid out in Core Performance Endurance after Matt from No Meat Athlete recommended it.

Today was a rest day and tomorrow I'll either do a light run or go for a swim. However, my long run produced a little chafing issue, so I'm worried chlorine might be a bit painful...