Totally have a happy national running day..please..

National Running Day

A day where runner's take extra pride in their motivation and the running community. Where we can be a little extra obnoxious to non runners when we talk about how we ran today. Totally an awesome day...

Except if you are a sourpuss like me.

I'm totally...

I know I should have my supportive face on, put aside my injury madness... but I end up feeling like this:

I'm sure any of you that are committed to an activity, like running, and get sidelined from it due to an injury, secretly have this feeling when you see other people doing and enjoying the activity that you love.

But you probably want some content here! So let's go!

Last Friday, my physical therapist said I could try doing a back to running program, since I had a few days in a row where my knee wasn't bad. The plan was a 10-15 minute warm up, stretch, then do 5 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking, repeat until I hit 45 minutes.  I was pumped. I felt like the wind was about to change and blow away my dark injury clouds. I was thinking ahead where I could be in a week or two! Then reality set in..

Saturday brought back a cranky knee that wasn't bending well and increased pain. I took some Advil for my pain/swelling and felt much better after.  Sunday I woke up feeling a bit more limber. I had to try the run. I didn't want to go to therapy again saying I was too scared to try.

Once I warmed up and stretched, I started my run. I felt right away that things were not right.  My right leg wasn't bending back far enough or doing the full running motion. My knee was wobbly. Yada yada yada

Mentally this was happening:

I kept hoping that my knee would magically warm up and I'd be free like a bird on the lakefront path. Once I realized I would be a train wreck, I got off the main lakefront trail and to one of the side trails closer to the lake. It was a test of madness and lost hope. The two minute walks in between the running attempts were rough, not because I wanted to run again quicker, but I was in slow time and had to accept that reality isn't ready to match my dream.

I got home and was thankful that I didn't force ill advised speed or time to happen. I was happy to not be in any intense pain or knee swelling. Although my right ankle did flare up the next few days due to the awkward stride I had.

My frustration isn't so much in the long break from running (I know many people that have had to be benched for much longer than me), but rather the repeated failed efforts to return to running. The time table for my return has always been fuzzy, so my hopes stay in limbo. If you follow sports, I feel like I am constantly on the "day to day" status for months now.

But all is not all wobbly like jello! I saw my sports doctor yesterday who told me I'm probably two to three weeks from running again. I need to use some NSAID pain relievers to control the swelling for a week, as that is what cause my pain and stiffness. My doctor and my therapist told me the reason my knee locks up and can't move without pain sometimes is that my MCL gets caught in the track for my knee cap, so getting off that hurts..Ouchies.

Okay, enough negative nancy. Let's move on.

Life isn't all gloom!

It is totally raining in our living room

And my daughter graduated to her big girl bed!

And some days, it is better to just hang around and do nothing:

I've stolen enough of your attention for one sitting! Thanks for stopping bye!
Enjoy your run :)