Discouraged vs. Hopeful

My knee was very unhappy after Tuesday's run and I was feeling very discouraged. It felt stiff and fragile and I felt seriously impaired when I need to chase my daughter down the sidewalk, or carry her stroller up and down the steps to the subway. Because my knee started to bother me around the time that I finished the intervals and started the 20 and 25 minute runs, I began to think that my joints simply can't handle "long" runs. A couple friends sympathised, but also talked about how brutal running can be, and how runners regularly wreck their knees. I considered the possibility that I might have to respect my weaknesses and quit. Mega disappointment!

But then a bit of hopefulness creeped back into my doom-and-gloom. My knee felt stronger much more quickly than it had last week, which was encouraging. Then I read a few articles on-line, one of which begins: "Knee injuries are neither inevitable nor debilitating for runners. In fact, most knee pain is easily corrected if properly managed." A runner friend reassured me that knee tenderness (which he distinguished from the real pain of injury) is normal and will eventually go away and that I should just rest extra, maybe temporarily scale down my running time, and make use of anti-inflammatory medicine and creams.

So I haven't given up yet. But I haven't run again either. I have a crazy stressful school deadline at the end of this month so this is actually a good time for my running schedule to be a bit more relaxed. However, I do really like to follow instructions when I'm trying something new, so I'm disappointed to have to modify my C25K timeline.

We'll see what happens..

(UPDATED to add: Skimming back through my blog, I just noticed that I first complained of pain on the inside of my left knee way back on May 11! So this has been a weak point almost from the start. Hmmmm.)