Can I admit that I hate it more than anything else in life some days? (I guess I just did.)
Like...I really really hate it sometimes.
I have discovered that I am an angry runner when I am starting out. I hate everything and everyone and I want to punch people in the face while I am running and for at least the first 20 minutes after I finish. Truth! *Run with me at your own risk.
I have also discovered that once I can get to a point where I can jog/run about 15 minutes consecutively I am no longer that angry runner. At that point running is tiring and I have to constantly push myself, but I don't hate it anymore (or want to punch people).
About 2 months ago I could run 25 minutes without stopping. It felt good. I felt proud. I was ahead of schedule to be able to run a 5k by 9/13. I was thrilled.
Then I got shin splints that lasted all day every day. It wasn't extremely painful, but I was concerned about injuring myself further, so I took a break from running for about 2 weeks. I was still working out (walking, cycling, elliptical). I got back on the treadmill after 14 days telling myself to start out slow and only run 10-15 minutes and see how things felt.
I STRUGGLED for 5 minutes before before slowing down to a walk, and guess what? I was right smack dab at the beginning of my angry running days. Only angry and feeling defeated. Actually, that is not entirely true. I was an angry runner and I certainly felt defeated, but I was majorly ticked off that running and my body had betrayed me in just a short 14 days.
Nevertheless, I kept running and angrily made my way back up to 12 minutes over the next few weeks.
Then one morning I woke up to my knee swollen. It wasn't painful, but it did concern me. Then the clicking and popping began and that was really painful. I was off the treadmill again for about a week an a half. My knee was feeling about 95% healed, but I am sure you can guess how far I struggled to run on the treadmill that first time back.
5 minutes.
Fully struggling the whole time.
I was less pissed off this time, since I knew it was coming, but still very irritated.
My knee is not really better. I have been keeping it at bay while I continue to run. It doesn't hurt while I run, but swells afterwards. Every time. I have a doctors appointment scheduled for 3 days after my 5k. I think I know what is wrong with it, and we all know I went to med school, so I am sure it's quite an accurate diagnosis.
Either way, my very first 5k I trained the most for, outside of this one. My time was 47.5 minutes. Saturday I finished a 5k (on the treadmill) in 48.5 minutes. I knew I could do it faster, but I was concerned about my knee and pushing too hard, too fast.
Today I completed it in 45 minutes. I was pretty proud of that. At the very least, I'll take it.
Here's to my knee holding out for the next 11 days. I can't take another start over before then.
