Goal: 6 miles – Reality: 0 miles / Still On the Mend – Trying Not to Panic

I should have had a 6 mile team run this morning. Instead, I was home with the ice pack on my knee yet again today. Adding another ZERO miles to my running log. And trying not to panic about it.
This has been a really hard week for me – physically and emotionally. Physically, I’ve been hobbling on my insanely sore knee all week. Emotionally, I’ve been close to tears all week, worried that my non-healing knee injury is something much worse than I had been thinking it was.

I’ve never had to miss a single day since my official training for the 1/2 marathon started. I’ve had aches and pains along the way – that’s only natural. But I’ve never been sidelined like I am right now due to my knee injury. If I could run through the pain, I would. But I can’t! It’s physically impossible as my knee just buckles from the intense pain when I try to put that kind of pressure on it. Not good. Not good at all. I have worked so hard at this training. I have come so far! The thought that I might have to stop training right now just makes my heart hurt.

As of last night I was very much in panic mode, certain I would have to pull out of the Philly 1/2 marathon and transfer my current fundraising money to one of the winter Team in Training races instead. After a full week of no physical exertion on my knee (other than normal walking, of course), my knee was still no better yesterday than it was last Monday. Fortunately today it does seem to maybe feel a tiny bit better, so maybe we are making progress. Maybe.

One of my friends told me she read in one of her running magazines that it takes 3 weeks of not running to lose the level at which you were at when you stopped. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but right now I’m holding onto the hope that it really is. Because I’m terrified that this knee isn’t getting better. I’m terrified that I’ll have to stop training because of this stupid treadmill-induced injury. I’m panicking at the mere thought of how much ability I’ve lost due to this setback.

I did set an appointment with a specialty sports medicine orthopedics doctor on Tuesday just in case this is something more serious than a simple strain. I’m crossing all my fingers and toes that I’ll be given the green light to continue on after maybe another week off, but we’ll have to just wait and see at this point.

If you could keep sending any knee-healing vibes in my general direction, they would be MORE than appreciated. I’ll keep you posted on the medical verdict after my Tuesday appointment.

And in the meantime I’ll keep reminding myself that Disney World in January isn’t a bad alternate race location (Team in Training is offering the Disney Marathon as one of the winter events) if I have to change race efforts due to the injury.

Really hoping that won’t be the case, though. I have really been looking forward to heading back toward my hometown for the Philly 1/2 Marathon. Still holding onto that hope and trying hard not to panic more about the injury and what it will mean to my training. I guess only time (and the doctor on Tuesday) will tell.

Keep on running,