Marathon = Aches + Pains?

During my long run Wednesday, I made a couple brief hydration stops, and on the second one, I noticed my left knee was sore. This made me walk a few seconds longer than I'd planned, and for the three miles after that, I felt the soreness a little here or there. Then for the rest of that day, I limped around at work.

This got me realizing I've had some minor ache or pain pretty much since the marathon. After the race, it felt like every muscle, tendon and ligament in my legs and feet were sore. I got that part -- there were going to be things that had never been used as much as they were in those roughly four hours. In the days that followed, the soreness gradually went away, though maybe I would still feel it in my ankles or Achilleses-es when I first woke up or the first time I would go down the stairs outside. (I even still had that this morning.)

Once I started running again, it was a slight balkiness in my right knee, or the same ankle thing. Or both. But the just-plain-sore left knee I got on Wednesday was a different injury than I've had since I got semi-serious about running. So I knew I had to take a few days off.

Sunday morning, I was feeling good and really wanted to go running -- and very nearly did. I thought my sore knee was better. I even ate a PowerBar (Honey Roasted Nut -- pretty good) and went outside to test the knee with a minute or two of jogging. Fine AND dandy. Perfect.

Then as I was letting the food digest a little while more, I came downstairs and heard a faint whisper from my left knee. "Ouch," it said ever so quietly, or maybe a different four-letter word. A less perceptive person might've missed it, but not me. I called off the run and ordered more rest. I second-guessed my decision all day until Sunday evening, when I was going down some stairs at work -- and then heard it again.

So it'll be a couple more days off. Wednesday or Thursday seems like the smart move now. I'm definitely feeling a little impatient and wanting to keep making progress, but I know I can make up a few days I might lose now, but if I have these niggling (am I allowed to say that?) injuries drag on for a while, not only will I not make progress in my training, but I could miss out some of the "events" I want to do. The storms become more regular on Mt. Whitney toward the end of September, and I don't want to miss my chance for a second ascent.

If I must be lazy for the next few days, so be it. All in the name of healing my bum knee, right?