Having a sore medial meniscus is a real 'pain'! I have been nursing my left knee, which is sore on the inner side, for the past two weeks. But because of all the walking at General Convention, and not being able to just prop it up for total rest, it is not as improved as I would like heading into the Rock-n-Roll Chicago Half Marathon.
I have not done much running last week, and this week I have done no running at all. Treating this as a 'taper' of sorts has been good for the knee, as it has been improving. But I still feel the twinges when walking.
Not running for a whole week has been very difficult. I want to follow my training schedule! I have missed four weekday runs already. I really need to run this RnR Half to keep my Long Runs on schedule (and to confirm that my fitness level is where it needs to be).
If I hadn't signed up for this race, I would've laid up for the weekend with icing and Advil (and probably cut my Long Run). But, here I am with a race on the schedule -- a race I really want to run -- and wondering how the race is going to play out (given I am not 100%).
With the Marathon in October, plus a Half Marathon and a 20-Mile race in September, I need to make sure I can recover from this and be in good health for the Fall races. So I am treating the RnR Half as a 'fun' training run. I am going to take it very easy and try not to aggravate the knee too much. Plus, the forecast high on Sunday is 94F so heat is another factor that will likely temper my effort.
Saturday is Packet Pickup at the Expo so I am heading downtown with family and my running partner. I will attempt to keep from spending any money there. LOL! Then we will visit the Museum of Science and Industry and check out the MythBusters Exhibition (that should be very cool!).
So Sunday will be a learning experience for me in terms of running with discomfort. If the knee complains too much to finish, I will take a DNF (Did Not Finish) to avoid making things worse. Not something I want to contemplate, but it is better to be smart than let my pride force a bad decision.
There will be lots of fellow WISHers in the race with me, along with other Half Fanatics. So I hope to be able to run with them, or at least to hang with them before/after the race. I might be moving at too slow a pace to actually 'run' with anyone this time around.