My body was not in perfect form as I made my way to the neighboring town of Karlsdorf for a 10K race on Sunday. My left knee was still looking a bit like hamburger from my spill on the day before and my quads were sore from the steep hills.
As I warmed up with a 15 minutes run before the race, I noticed that my injured left knee was not allowing me to stretch out my stride as much as I normally do. But I didn't think much about it as I joined several from my running club at the starting line. As we waited for the start signal I thought to myself that I would probably not have a good race, but I intended on at least not having a really bad one either.
My thoughts were interrupted by the starting pistol and soon I was flowing forward in the middle of roughly 300 runners.
It remained congested for a minute or two, but finally I broke free and settled into a steady pace. I was content to pass the first kilometer marker in roughly 4:46 (7:40/mi. pace). My left knee remained tight, throwing my normal stride off a bit, making my running feel quite awkward.
I managed to maintain the pace over the next couple kilometers, but then I started getting a muscle cramp in my left thigh. I knew this was caused from my awkward stride and tried to ignore it. By the halfway point I was hurting and was losing speed rapidly. I did my best to adapt my stride by taking shorter, faster steps, and finally at least stabilized my pace.
A couple runners from my club passed me around the 6-7K point and I tried to stick with them as long as possible, but they moved ahead. With 1K to go I realized that they were slowing down, so gradually started closing the gap. I ended up passing one and crossing the finish line on the heels of the other. My finishing time of 50:52 was actually much better than I expected for the day.
After the race I showered in the sport facilities and joined my club for the awards ceremony. As a club we had a very good day with several age group prizes, plus the prize for having the largest participating group (34 runners).
On Monday morning my knee looked (and felt) much better, it is healing nicely. The muscles in the back of my left leg were still sore, but this week I am tapering for the marathon on the 21st, so I my leg should be fine by then.
Wow. Running with a cut up knee doesn't sound like much of a party....Good thing you figured out how to compensate for it. I am full of admiration.
Jack, I was looking for a contact mail for you but couldn't find one - I would appreciate it if you got back to me via my email.