Stormy Weather

So as I wrote previous, my knee had been giving me some trouble after my long runs and I decided to give it some time off, and see what it would do with some rest. Last weekends post long run knee pain was pretty bad, so I basically took the entire week as unscheduled rest, with the exception of Wednesday, which I ran just 3 miles. I figured at this point that if I took a week off and the knee was ok, I could pick back up my MP run yesterday and my 19 miler today and not really have it effect my Chicago marathon training. But if it was still problematic at that point, chances are that I would not be able to recover in time to run the Chicago Marathon anyways. At least not run in the way that I want to.





Thursday brought crazy weather to Colorado, with temps in the 50's and low 60's for the weekend and a constant barrage of rain. I don't normally mind rain, but as cold as it was made for a real pain in the ass day at work and just general miserable conditions. As I left work on Thursday night, this was the scene from under a gas station awning.

I had dinner in Old Town on Friday night in advance of my run on Saturday, then actually slept in and waited to do the run after I was fully awake and aware. It was still raining pretty good, but I knew I couldn't wait any longer, nor could I skip the run. I told myself that after almost 5 full days off that I was going to set my MP for the run around 7:15, instead of the normal 7:00 that I usually do. I took off and was able to hold the pace pretty good for about the first 5 miles. I felt my knee start to ache a little and so I slowed, not wanting to push it. Within the next mile though, I had to stop and walk, feeling as much pain, if not more from it than I did the previous 2 weeks. Also, both times before, it didn't hurt till after the run was over, this one hurt while I was running. I alternated walking and painful jogging the rest of the way home...

The only decision that I have made right now is that I will not be running the Chicago Marathon. I refuse to do it just to do it, and with the amount of time off that I will probably have to take to get healthy, there is no way that I can run the BQ that I want.

Part of me is thinking about a month off, then re starting the 18 week program, and trying R&R AZ again in January. Another part of me is thinking maybe Colorado again in May, after some signifigant recovery time. Not just from the knee, but also from the fact that I was trying to run a third marathon this year before this happened, and that might be a little much for me. From a dicipline standpoint as well as a health one. I'm just not sure right now. I still fully intend to make the trip to Chicago in Oct. It just looks like for the 2nd year in a row, I'll do it as a spectator.

And when I stopped at one place, this was the scene I saw...