faster with age

    Slept in North Platte Nebraska in the back of my Jeep Cherokee in the Walmart parking lot. Went for a 6.5 mile run before hitting the road again. 

     Made it to Joliet Illinois [just south of Chicago] last night. Did a 5 mile run before hitting the road again.

     I arrived in Milford Pennsylvania at 2 AM this morning. Had to get up at 6:45 to make it to Newark Airport to pick up my wife who came in on the red eye. Ended up with no time for a run.

     Spent last night and today up at the farm in North East Pa. I slept in this morning and it was pretty hot and humid for a run during the day. Finally got out for 5 miles just before dark.

     Still at the Pennsylvania farmhouse. I ran 17 miles in the morning. I didn't feel quite as good as I did on last nights run right before dark. I ran the 2.35 mile loop 7 times plus a little extra to make it 17 even. It is a very hilly loop through the woods and 3/4ths on dirt.I ran most of it pretty easy. Last lap was a bit faster with last mile in 7:26.

     Easy 3 mile run before leaving the farm to head back to Milford Pa.

     We spent all of yesterday loading up the jeep and trailer with things to haul back to Idaho from my wife's parents home. Her mother passed away this past year and we are clearing out the house to get ready to sell. We were up very late last night and early this morning to get away at a decent hour today. Didn't have time to run.

     We had been on the road about an hour when the Jeep Cherokee started to overheat. On the way out to Pennsylvania I had been loosing a small amount of coolant but not enough to tell where it was coming from and I was able to just add a small amount each day. When I pulled over I had coolant going everywhere and I could now here it spraying from a crack in the radiator which apparently had just become much larger. It took most of the 4 gallons of water I had along to refill it. Luckily we found an Autozone in a small town nearby that had my radiator in stock. I was able to change the radiator in the parking lot and we were on our way again.

     We arrived at my wife's sisters house in Chicago around 3 am [much later than planned.

     I had been hoping to get a run in this morning but after arriving so late last night and very little sleep the night before, I decided the extra time sleeping was more important.

     After sleeping until 9 am then visiting some, we got on the road late again and made it to Lincoln Nebraska by about 10 pm and finally got a full night sleep.

     Today we had all of Nebraska and Wyoming to cover plus around 2 hours of Idaho. No time to run again. That radiator problem at the beginning put us too far behind to find any time to run. We finally arrived home around 2:40 AM 

     Finally got a chance for a run. Things were going well when out of the blue at 6.5 miles I got a knee pain I've never had. By 7 miles it felt bad enough that I decided I had better walk. I walked 1.5 miles back home. It felt normal while walking. I tried running a couple more times but the pain quickly returned. Don't know why I would get a new injury on an easy run after 5 days of not running.

     After not running yesterday I decided to try another run and see how the knee was. I ran 5 miles and it felt fine until the last mile I though I might barely feel something in that knee but very slight.

     After yesterdays run went alright I figured to just try another 5 miles then maybe more if the knee felt fine. I took ibuprofen this morning.  I only made it 3.5 miles then had to walk home again like last Saturday. It seems pretty odd that I would get an injury on an easy run last Saturday after not running for 5 days prior. I wonder if it had something to do with the drive back from eastern Pennsylvania. Driving 36 hours over 3 days sitting with my knees bent. My lower leg [shin] was getting sore from operating the gas pedal by the time I got home. I was saving about 2 miles per gallon by drafting off of semis especially on the way home when I hit a lot of headwind. I don't normally do that very much but it adds up to a few hundred dollars savings in fuel on a 4500 mile trip [out and back]. I couldn't use cruise control though while doing that because of the varying speed of the trucks. It is my right knee that has the problem. 

     Went out later for 15 miles on my mt bike.

     30.5 miles on the mt bike today. Giving the knee a couple of days.

     Ran 4 miles without problems from my knee. 8:26 AP

     After Saturdays 4 mile run went alright I decided after a day off in between that I would try for 6 miles today. I got right around the 5 mile mark and had to give it up again and walk the last mile home. I guess this isn't going to go away quickly. I think it may be patellar tendonitis from looking on the internet. I wouldn't expect an injury like that after 2 weeks of hardly any running but that seems to be right where the pain is coming from.

     I decided to take the rest of the week off from running. Went 20 miles mt bike.

     25.2 miles mt bike.

     20 miles mt bike

     I haven't run since last Monday when I had to walk the last mile. I tried it again this morning but decided to just go 4 miles. I felt good this morning and my pace just naturally started out faster than it has been lately. I ran around 2.75 miles averaging from 7:45 to 7:56. I was feeling good on the way back so I threw in a quarter at 5:45 pace then 1/4 recovery at 8:21. Then 1/2 mile at 6:22 pace followed by another 1/4 recovery. Last 1/4 was 6:19 pace. These were all into an 8 mph head wind. My knee felt great on this run but last Monday it wasn't bothering me until I got closer to 5 miles although I think I was feeling a very slight discomfort by 4 that I didn't get today. I wanted to go farther but decided to play it safe. 7:37 AP

     Out scouting for deer and elk again. The bow hunt opens Thursday. Did quite a bit of hiking checking my trail cameras. I came down with a bad cold last night and couldn't sleep. It seemed like the hiking helped with the congestion.

     My goal for this week is to keep my running minimal enough to not aggravate the knee. It has been around 5 miles that it started hurting last week so I'm keeping the few runs I do under 5 miles. After coming down with a bad cold Mon night, I haven't been able to sleep the last 2 nights with bad congestion and sore throat. I thought I would try a short run anyway but felt very week. I went 4 miles at 9:28 pace and had to stop at the church and rest in the shade on the lawn for 10 min before finishing up the last 1.5 miles.

     Still feeling pretty crappy. The hunt opened today and I got up this morning early and did a fair amount of hiking. Didn't feel so good and had to take it slow. I'm signed up for a half marathon on Saturday but since I can't run much more than 5 miles with my knee problem, I was thinking of switching to the 5k. As bad I as feel with this cold, I'm not sure even running that will be a good idea.