Not what I need

Or should I say "kneed"?

I've been feeling great and itching to get out for my next run, which I decided would be on my "regular" hiking trail -- approximately 2,000 feet up over 2.5 miles. I was also excited to have G with me for this route, to get an idea of exactly the distance and elevation involved.

Though I waited, in typical fashion, until the day had heated up, I decided to run to the trail, less than a mile from home. What I didn't see coming was that my knee would start complaining again. @$#*&!

I hoped my need just needed to loosen up or something, so I kept going right onto the trail. The steep hills kicked my butt, some forcing me to walk a little, but my knee made me turn around about a mile in. I hobbled down the steep hills and walked home very unhappy.

After pondering things, it seems that simply resting my knee hasn't worked, so I've decided to do some frequent, flat (and hopefully fast) running for a little while and see what happens. I hate the idea of having to drive to the track to run, but maybe the pounding from the hills is the problem. Which, of course, doesn't reconcile well with me wanting to do some crazy trail runs over the next several weeks. But I don't have any better ideas right now and I'm not ready to blow off my goals for the fall.