Less than one week left!

There's less than a week until the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon.  I think I'm ready!  I was having this throbbing back-of-the-knee pain that was annoying me for a couple weeks.  It was more prominent on long runs.  When it didn't go away (and it wasn't there in a different pair of shoes that I was breaking in on short runs), I decided to switch shoes for good. 

Good thing too.  I looked at the bottoms of my shoes, and I had worn through the first layer of tread on parts of the shoes.  Also according to my tread wear pattern, I land different on my right and left.  One was worn closer to the heel.  The other was the outer sole, closer to midfoot.  Strange.  I can't remember how long I have been wearing these shoes, but I think I got them shortly after I started running back in September.  It's definitely time to retire them to walking shoes.

Last weekend's "almost" 11 mile run reinforced that the pain had something to do with the shoes.  No pain in the back of the knees in the new shoes.  Eleven is the most miles we've run so far.  I'm positive that I will be able to do a couple more miles and some change.

I think I'm ready.  I know I'm ready.  I've decided that I have a goal to finish (obviously!), but I'd also like a decent time that I can be proud of.  I'm not going to kill myself over it though.  I know I'll probably be running alone much of the time since Shane is actually trying for a particular pace that is faster than I care to run.  I'm okay with that though.  I don't mind running alone.  I'm going to try to figure out a pace that I want and then try to maintain it for the most part.  I'm questioning whether I should even run with a GPS on.  I'll just stick to a pace that I'm comfortable while running without knowing the numbers. 

Sometimes my head is my biggest enemy while running, and it might be best if I don't let it get in my way.  Next post...HALF MARATHON!!

I've got five days to decide!  What to do?  What to do?!

The runs are getting longer, and the aches.... oh, my.

Sometimes I find myself thinking, "you are too old for this!"  Some days, I creak, pop and snap so much, you'd think I was falling apart right then and there.  Then I remind myself that THIS is what is keeping me young!  Physical activity, new challenges, and stretching your limits is exactly what keeps you from keeling over dead.  Well, at least, later rather than sooner.

As we increase mileage on our long runs, my aches and pains let me know it!  Last weekend was a nine mile run on the Springfield/Chatham trail.  Is there an "official" name?  It was nice enough, but there is this pesky pain in the back of my knee that is bugging me.  After several attempts to figure it out online, I have yet to pin-point the cause or any potential remedies beside the usual.  I'm icing and cut back my mileage during the week.  I was on the treadmill on Wednesday, and it was achy!  I don't really feel it at all unless I'm running, then it bothers me.  Not a bad ache, so I guess I'll just push through it, and hope it goes away.

Yesterday, we ran the Lost Bridge trail between Springfield and Rochester, which is 10 miles round-trip.  The only other time we've ran ten miles is for the Frostbite Festival last December.  We beat our overall time by more than ten minutes!  Granted, the Frostbite's hilly course was much more difficult running than this flat, former railroad track, but I still think we've improved greatly over the last three months.

The evening ended with lots of icing, elevation and ibuprofen.  Less than four weeks to go!  Come on knees, don't fail me now!