5k Update: Weeks Five and Six

Well, there’s nothing to report on weeks five and six.  My knees were so messed up, I ended up taking two weeks off.  After the first week, there was still a lot of tenderness, and I wanted to make sure that was gone before I stared up again.

I did go to Portland Running Company and found out that I overpronate.  What that means is that my feet roll in when I run.  I’m not surprised.  I can see my shadow when I run, and it ain’t the pretty,  graceful, light-on-your-feet gazelle run that others do.  But the shoes I tried would help with that, she claimed, and she was right.  I started back up again this week (week seven).  And while I wasn’t able to advance to the next level, I still ran just over a mile the first day after being off for two weeks.  To me, that was an acceptable accomplishment, especially since I’d only been doing it for a month before I took the break.

Unfortunately, my knee pain is still prevalent when I run on concrete or asphalt, so I’m off the local high school track.  I have to drive to get there, and I miss just being able to leave my house and go for a run.  Now I have to incorporate a drive.  I’m also facing logistical issues that I didn’t have to before, such as what one does with one’s car keys while running.  Before, I just took my house key and slipped it in my sports bra; now, I have the car keys, house key and key fob to lock/unlock my car (only way to alarm it is using the fob).  These conundrums life hands me!

The good part about this track, though, is that I have zero knee pain when I run on it, and even the next day I barely register any soreness at all.  Additionally, I can now keep track of how far I’ve run via measurements, not minutes.  I was counting in my head before, and this way I know that if I’ve run around the track twice well, that’s half a mile.  It means no counting in my head, which is good in that I don’t lose track, but bad in that it’s sometimes harder for me to keep focus.  There just isn’t as much to look at, so it’s a more boring experience than before.

I missed running; I daresay I like running now.  I still have to kick myself in the butt to do it, but once I’ve completed a run, I feel great.  I get the “Runner’s High” feeling now.  After a run, I’ve felt equal parts euphoric, powerful, and free.  One time I even bawled my brains out – residual divorce pain, likely – and it all made sense and felt great.  I’m certainly not an athlete, certainly not going to win any races, but maybe, just maybe, I’ll feel comfortable actually calling myself “a runner” sooner, rather than later.

PDXGamerGirl, the Runner.  It’s been nice meeting her.