and I love that I consider that a "short" run now. :) I went running on Friday, and it wasn't a very good run. My knee was giving me problems. I hope that its just from the fact that I've been wearing worn out shoes. We'll see. Its still a little stiff and sore today, but I'm going to wear my new shoes and see how it goes. I hope that I don't have to cut it short.
I'm just feeling really good about so many things right now. I need to get my diet under control, because I'm not eating well. But other than that, I'm feeling great. I'm looking ahead at life, and I'm so excited about it. So many big changes are going to be *hopefully* happening in this next year, and I cant wait.
And what amazes me about everything, is running is what has helped realize I can do these things. Can make these changes to make my life better. I love that. I love what running has given me.
Its such a great feeling to have - because I spent pretty much all of my 20's sad and depressed and unhappy.
I have a feeling that my 30's are going to be extremely awesome.
Hi, I really enjoy reading your blog and just thought I'd comment about your knee troubles.
ReplyDeleteI've been running for almost two years now, and about a year ago my knees started hurting. I went to the doctor, and it was diagnosed as patellofemoral pain syndrome, which is one of the most common causes of knee pain among runners. What happens is that the knee cap, which is not adequately supported by the muscles around it (most commonly the quadriceps, ESPECIALLY the medial quadricep or VMO), rubs against the knee cartilage, and this can eventually cause the cartilage to become damaged.
I've found that if I can keep my VMO strong enough to counteract the outer quadricep muscles (I do leg lifts with my foot turned outwards, using leg weights) my knee pain will be minimal, but this it's a constant battle, since I bike a lot and biking works the outer quads more than the inner one. If your primary form of exercise is running, your quads as a whole might be weak, but if you do a significant amount of biking, they could be imbalanced.
I'm not saying that you have the same problem I do/did, but I just thought I'd share it, because it took me months to figure out how to fix my problem, which was frustrating. I encourage you to do some research on knee injuries and their causes/treatments and to see a doctor if you can't cure this on your own or if the pain becomes very serious.
Wishing you all the best,
Emily
Thank you so much, Emily! I hope that I'm able to get to the bottom of this knee pain, and am able to still run this race. What you posted made a lot of sense for me, since my primary form of exercise is running. I used to do more strength training before I discovered running, and maybe its time to get back into that. I also bike, but I haven't biked this year as much as I have in the past. I go to the Dr Tuesday!
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