Run Like a Girl 10k

Yesterday morning I did the Run Like A Girl 10k Trail Run. A few months back when I was training for the marathon I felt that my knee was doing good so I signed up for this event. Then my knee crapped out on me again. I stopped running to let it heal and did other forms of exercise like yoga and pilates until I could start to do some cardio again. So before this 10k I had only been walking and biking. As the day for the event got closer I didn't feel that my knee was okay to run, especially since it was a trail run which meant that I would be going up and down hills. The 10k started at 9am, but there was 7:30am start option for those who wanted to walk it or didn't care to be timed. So I changed to the early start time. I kept telling myself that I was just going to walk it because I didn't want to mess up my knee again. Well, as we were at the starting line the guy in charge asked over the loud speaker how many people were going to walk and me and like 2 other people raised their hands.

The race started and, as was to be expected, people kept passing me. I knew that I could physically handle running, except for the possibility of my knee crapping out on me again, so it was killing me having all of these people pass me - actually it was killing my pride - kind of lame, eh? The other day at the running store when I was there to pick up my race packet I found an IT band brace, which is where my problem is, so I bought it. Since I had that handy dandy brace on my knee during the race I felt that it would be okay for me to run a little bit, just so that I am not the last person. So I ran, but only for maybe a mile. It was a lot of uphill so people were getting tired quickly. Once there were a good amount of people walking I started to walk too. Uphill and downhill we went. People would run on the downhill (that is the worst on my knee so I didn't even chance it), then they would be all tired out and walk on the uphill. I have a pretty fast walk so I was just booking it and keeping a pretty constant pace. So people would pass me on the downhill when they ran and I would pass those same people on the uphill. It was kind of amusing. The whole thing was just a nice little hike for me since I wasn't running. As I neared the finish line I ran though, but you gotta. I plan on doing another 10k with Jeff on September 7th and since that one won't be in the mountains, plus it's a few months away, I will definitely be running it.

This wasn't when I actually finished it - all of the people waiting for the 9am start time were crowded around here so I ran in onto the right where the grass is and after they all left I went back up and ran down for the picture, but I was laughing while I was doing it and not taking it seriously so I look kind of lame...and this was the best picture.

This was right when I finished.

Since I had to stop training for the marathon time had run out, so my sister and I decided to do a 1/2 marathon instead - the Niantic Bay Half Marathon in Connecticut on September 21, 2008. That will still give me time to heal and since training for a half marathon is easier than for a marathon I feel that this should be no problem. A half marathon is just 13.1 miles so I'm not too worried about the training. Right before my knee hurt this past time I was easily running 6 miles. Plus the 10k yesterday was 6.2 miles uphill and downhill and it was a piece of cake so if it comes down to it I can easily walk the half marathon, but I am determined to run it. I begin officially training tomorrow. I will only be running 3 days a week to make sure that I have a day before and a day after each run to rest my knee. Plus I now have my IT band brace and I have been going to the chiropractor to have work done on it and am doing tons of stretches, so things should go pretty smoothly. Wish me luck!!