Making Smart Decisions

The next week or two are going to be among the most important in my rehab process. I say this because I ran 15 minutes today, and it was a pretty reasonably comfortable run overall. I tightened up in my hamstring a little in the last minute, but nothing drastic. The important thing now is staying on top of my hips/core, but also making sure I take a day off if I do feel a little more tight or sore than usual. This always poses a problem for me. Running for me is like crack, so once you give me the green light to train, I don't like to stop.

That being said, I am gauging things by my right knee (the good one). The right knee is also a little stiff today, and in an exactly similar manner as the left one, only to a much smaller degree. However, I've been on my right one for about 10 months now, so it would make sense that it would handle the running better than my left. Regardless, I was a little stiff after the 15 minutes last night, but I woke up much better than I had anticipated, and that's exciting for me. I have been doing my running after work, only because I find that logistically it allows me more chances to run on something soft. If I run before work, I either have to be up early to do it, or I run on the asphalt in my neighborhood. For now, I will stick with grass and trails after work.

I went to the gym yesterday morning though, and I did shoulder weights as well as hips, core and flexibility stuff. I'm really making a concerted effort to stay on top of this stuff, especially as I start to feel better. We always seem to slack on the "pre-hab" stuff once we feel fine. As I feel better, i'm forcing myself to keep on top of it. Its been dreadful doing nothing for the past 10 months, and I have no interest in going backwards.

My goal at this point is to run the Pie Run on Thanksgiving day with either my sis or one of my cousins. They all run a nice easy pace for me, so it will keep me from attempting to race it, yet I will get to enjoy the company of the wonderful running community in RI. I miss the community and interactions more than anything. Looking forward to it whether I can run or just cheer.