It's all relative

PM: Sore.  Probably shouldn't be running.  I'll try again tomorrow.

PM: Much slower today.  Legs feel really out of sorts.  I tried to stay very light on my toes and keep the cadence up a bit, even with the 9:26 minute per miles.  Hopefully it feels smoother tomorrow.

PM: Had a kickball game and then ran with Cory and broke into a JC park to run at night.  It was a lot of fun, and exhilarating to do- however the actually running was tough.  I am sore, slow, and not recovering all too well.

PM: Ran with Lee, Jim, and Natalie in St. Pete.  I really just needed to run with someone.  I am putting up some really sucky times and have little initiative.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised I'm feeling burnt out, but I wish it would subside at least until after next Saturday.

Pace was 7:39 per mile and felt way too fast for me.  I didn't talk much.

AM: Light run and gym.  Sore.  Sucks.

AM: Light run and gym.  Sore

PM: 10 slow miles.  I am still incredibly sore.

Went to St. Pete to talk with some running mates and try to get back on "track."  Wasn't planning anything hard, and after about 3 miles of warmup, I decided to do some striders around the track for 800 meters.  I stopped to discuss the workout with Sean and company, and decided to do a quick jog to get my hear back up, but I felt an immediate out-of-nowhere pain along the left sifde of my knee.  I tried just running it off thinking it like a basketball "injury", but literally couldn't run, jog, and then had to hop on one foot back to the start line.  I threw in the towel after a couple more attempts to run and hobbled off to the nearest bar instead.

The acuteness and sudden-onset has me worried.

In other news, I finished another awesome book- "The Martian."  I appreciated the math/engineering that coincided with the story line as well as the guy-humor.  Well-placed swearing always makes a book better.  

Uh oh, real pain in my left knee.  In hindsight maybe it was from turning on the square track during striders?  I don't know exactly what I did yesterday to cause the acuteness, but it isn't good so far.  Tried running lighgtly... but then just had trouble walking instead.  : D

PM: Tried running.  Did not fare well.  I'll try again tomorrow on softer ground.

PM: Sore, but knee pain subsided a bit to where I could only feel it after the run going up the stairs.  Progress.

AM: 2 miles with the group in Safety Harbor.  Felt sore, but no pain..

PM: 2 miles.  Decided to try to run a little more to A) see if I was sore/had pain, and B) to see if I could handle 13 miles tomorrow at any pace.

I've decided- no pain so I'm going to try it.  Race warm-up as normal with striders.  Check the knee thoroughly, then if pain-free go for it for mile 1.  If after mile one or two I feel incapable, drop back and run for fun.  If I am pain free- which I doubt highly- I'll go for it.  

My expected outcome is to run the half and just enjoy it- not race it- and hopefully exit it pain free.

Race Report: Florida Holiday Halfathon

I knew this would be a tough race.  Two weeks removed from a marathon, I still had hopes the fitness was somehow hiding in there ready to magically repair my injuries (and mind) from the last race.  It wasn't.  I felt drained by mile 4, was bleeding time by mile 6, was dehydrated/defeated/bleeding through my shoe by mile 8, and then began having aching knee pain in the same spot as Tuesday at mile 10.  I, however, gutted it out although and finally finished in front of a guy (Larry S) whom I have literally never finished in front of (0-7 up to that point).  I wouldn't normally count this as beating him, but he was within 20 seconds of me at mile 10 and obviously in as bad of shape as me, but I just gutted out those last 3 miles to keep him behind me.  He pulled it to within 15 seconds or so with 0.4 remaining, however I just wanted at least one moral victory out of this one so I willed myself ahead and out of reach.  I've always envied his speed- but never his attitude- so it felt good to end up a couple of seconds in front of him.

Afterwards, hanging out with everyone was a ton of fun so I'm more than happy for making the decision to run this one.

No running today.  Knee.

PM: Ran 3 miles.  Then picked heavy things up and put them down in the gym with some 5x5s.  Ended it with 2 more miles focusing on fixing my form.

Knee is sore, but the form work helped. 

PM: Kickball game, then ran with Cory.  I had to make him go so slow- I felt bad.  Then we hit up the gym after for arms and back.  So much easier running/working out with someone than doing it solo.

Knee watch: sore, but manageable.  Only the last 2 miles were a struggle getting it to lift up while keeping form.

AM: Slow slog instead of planning during school.  

Knee watch: upgraded to... very sore :)

PM: couple of miles, then went to see Star Wars. Honestly expected it to be better.

AM: slow run in Oldsmar. Very sore.

Knee...

Knee.

Meh.

Knee did not get better after the day off.

AM: ran 3, was hurting.

PM: thought running more would be a good idea. It wasn't. Kept running for no real reason.

Shut it down indefinitely. Winter/spring season in real jeopardy.

But 3,000 miles! Wahoo!

Got a free used road bike ready to be mailed to FL. Never was much of a bike rider, unless you count crashing into the end of my driveway.

Road bike needed some work, so spent some time figure out how they work. Bought and replaced some things on it. Tried to true the tires and somehow managed to pop a tube. Think I'll just pay a guy, watch them do it, and memorize it. Feel very unmanly.

Good news is, knee hurt bad again today, so that's making upcoming racing decisions much easier, albeit depressing.

There won't be any running today. I have however become a book-reading champion with all of this downtime. Some girl in a bookstore asked me today to describe the book I was reading since I was clearly enjoying it. I managed, " it's good and the characters are good. I like it. It's good." ...You know, when you have the innate ability to communicate verbally so exquisitely like I did there, it's no wonder women just flock to me.

The book is sarcastic too, so I'm blaming the author.

Nope.

Excited to get back to some warmer weather.

Good ole' goose egg to end the year.  Happy New Year!