Twist and Shout

Two Weeks Ago...
"EEEEOOOOW!" I was on my sixth and last five-mile loop of the Buckeye Woods 50K, running with Patti Tomasello and Shari Geiger, when I experienced a sudden, excruciating pain in my left knee. I stopped running, and Shari and Patti did as well out of concern. I must have twisted it, and/or landed funny, but the pain was huge. My fleeting thoughts turned to wondering whether I'd have to walk the final two and a half miles of the race.

I didn't mention this incident in my race report, because just as suddenly as the pain appeared, it went away. In less than a minute, I was once again back to running the same pace with my friends. My knee didn't bother me a bit for the remainder of the run.

Today at about eight-thirty...
"EEEEOOOOW!" It had, until this point, been a good day and even a good week of running. For the week, I'd done all my runs at my new company's fitness center treadmills as well as outside in the adjacent park with long-time running partner Dave Gajewski. After an easy recovery week following BW50K, these runs had gone pretty well. Today's running had been going even better. I'd done the Hinckley nine-mile big loop at a faster than usual pace with Will Bertemes, Brian Becker and Renee Harden. I'd done a three-mile lake loop with a larger group who showed up at eight o'clock. I'd just started on my second lake loop, when I felt that sudden pain once again.

This time it wasn't on a dirt trail with snow and rocks and roots; I was on a smooth bike trail. I wish I knew what caused the twist of the knee this time, or that other time for that matter, but there it was. Rob Lisy and the others stopped with me out of concern. "I'll be fine, I said. The same thing happened two weeks ago." Sure enough, I did recover and continue my run once again.

Today at about eight-thirty-seven...
'EEEEOOOOW!' Okay, time to stop. I'd only gone another three-quarters of a mile, and it happened again. I slogged back to the car, done for the day.

Now I'm getting a little concerned.