Christmas Break

Image by Gilbert R. via Flickr

Cloudy...

The past several days have been somewhat of an unscheduled break from running. Last week I wrote about how I was feeling slow during my runs - like my energy level was declining. Whatever was causing that decline finally came on full force last Friday morning. I've had zero energy, cloudy/congested head, etc. I go to see the Dr tomorrow a.m. Hopefully this will pass soon.

On a brighter note, I got a sweet deal on some new Asics 2150's. They are on clearance right now because the new 2160's just came out. My old 2150's have been great, so I'm pretty happy about getting such a good deal on these new ones. I also got some cool reflective gear for Christmas - a lightweight vest and a knit cap that has a reflective band. I run at night most of the time. A good reflective vest is long overdue.

Taking some unscheduled rest time

Over the past few days I've noticed some pain near my left knee, on the inner side of my leg. It's fairly mild, and there's no swelling. I suspect it's either an MCL sprain or PAT (Pes Anserinus Tendinitis). At this point I don't think it really matters which it is, because the treatment for both is to get some rest (and ice, compress, etc.).

With my first HM only a couple of weeks away, I feel like the best thing for me to do is to get to the starting line without injury. Missing a few runs this week might affect my performance a little bit, but I don't feel like it will make a huge difference at this point. I feel confident that I can at least cover the distance, and my primary goal for this first HM is just to finish. I can't do that if I try to push through and turn this minor condition into a more serious injury by continuing to run on it...

...at least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself, because it's hard to take a break from running, especially with a race coming up.


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