Day 26 (week 4, day 5)

Our training for Week 4 is finished, but I feel like it just about finished me.

I figured it would be hard, but today was just miserable. We got to bed about an hour late last night due to the craziness of having to get about 3,000 things done before this weekend, so I'm sure that didn't help, but that wasn't my main problem. I wasn't tired this morning.

I decided not to eat anything before running today. That was okay. My sugar levels were fine both before and after.

One of the little kids got into my gear and one of my gloves went missing. It wasn't very cold this morning, but I like keeping my fingers warm. They were frostbitten once, years ago, and have been sensitive to cold since then.

Next, I got ambushed by mosquitos on the way to the car. I got two or three bites right around my ankle on my right foot. They were an annoying distraction as I started the warmup walk.

The first run wasn't too bad. I figured that, if the rest of the session went like it, I would do just fine. That's not how it went, however.

The run seemed fine, as did the first walk. Going into the second run, I could tell that something was wrong with how my left leg was moving. It wasn't bothering me too much, so I kept moving on. The announced halfway point came about where I expected it, but the final two-and-a-half minutes just seemed long. We finished about where we did on Wednesday. I needed some breath, but that was resolved with a few deep breaths.

During the next walk, I noticed my left leg seeming a bit off. As we started the third run, it was clear that I was almost running with a limp. I felt stiff around my left knee and I could feel the impacts in my left hip. My right leg felt fine. I watched my feet to see if the left was angled differently than the right (it was not). I concentrated on my posture and looked ahead on the trail. I let my mind monitor my footfalls. Was I landing more flat-footed on my left? Not that I could tell. As I landed with my right foot, everything felt smooth. What was going on? Then I noticed a small stone in my right shoe.

When I slowed for the next walk, it was clear that the left leg had problems. It seemed stiffer, almost as if it did not want to bend at the knee. The walk was far too short, and starting the final run was very hard. Yes, I would characterize it as running with a limp. My left leg didn't seem to be bending and compressing as much on each stride as was happening with my right leg. Each landing seemed to be transferring the impact up my tiba, through my knee, up my femur, and into my hip. I deliberately focused on bending that knee and kicking back. I told Mrs. F about my discomfort.

"Do you want to walk the rest of the way?" she asked.

"Not a chance," I replied. The one thing I knew for certain was that I did not want to repeat this week.

It wasn't the duration of the final run that nearly did me in, but the discomfort of running with my left leg as it was. Despite the discomfort, when I heard the announcement of the final minute on the podcast, I pushed as hard as I could. I sped my pace and shortened my stride. I concentrated on the motion of the left leg. While my strides were pitifully short, the motion felt better (albeit strained), and I found myself catching up to Mrs. F.

When the run was over, I was afraid my left leg would lock, and that I would need to drag it back to the car. Thankfully, it did not, and we finished our cool-down walk about a minute short of the car.

Getting up the three steps into the house was difficult and painful. I loathe getting up now that I've been sitting, but I must get in to work. Week 4 is finished. I just hope my leg will be a little better as we go into Week 5.