FIRST RUN SINCE JULY

After my two miles yesterday.

Yesterday I ran for the first time since doing the 5k with Brandon on July 10th (man, I meant to write a recap of that). Before that run, I hadn't run in six weeks, on May 21st. So needless to say, it had been a while. Now that I have my new expensive fancy knee braces, I thought it would be a good time to take them for a spin.

When I got the knee braces I started wearing them a lot, during most the day really. I thought that could help some of the daily stress I put on my knees from going up stairs and walking around. I had a nice placebo effect for a few days before my knees blew up again. It was pretty frustrating. The only thing I could think of that triggered it was trick or treating, when I went up and down the stairs a dozen times to pass out candy. However, I was wearing my braces during that time, so I couldn't determine for sure if that was the cause.

And that's the thing. Even when I was doing nothing I would have these flare ups. Sometimes I could blame it on something, sometimes it was completely out of the blue. It would go in waves however, I would have a few good days, then the knees would flare for a few, then they'd calm down for a week, then they would flare again, etc. On and on. So did I trigger them or this is just something they are going to do?

Well, the Halloween flare up had calmed down and my knees felt good, so yesterday, when I got home from work and it was gorgeous outside, I decided to give it a whirl in my braces. If the knees flared up after, then I knew I was hosed. If they were fine, then... maybe the braces worked? Maybe I'll just continue to have random bouts of inflammation for a while that will slowly die down? Maybe if I wear my braces when doing activities, I can reduce triggering these episodes and they'll gradually fade, even if I am exercising some?

Who knows. I will tell you I'm sore as fuck after running. But that makes sense after about six months of being totally inactive. My legs kind of feel like after running a half marathon when I was in shape. I'm not worried about that though, I'm waiting for the knees to flare up. It's been 24 hours, usually the flare ups some 48-72 hours after the activity. So we'll see how it goes. Did the braces help and I won't have a flare up directly related to my run? Or will they do the usual and I'm $1500 in the hole with no answers?

As for the run, it went great. It felt good to be back out there and running didn't feel weird or painful or anything. It felt like hopping back on a bike after not riding for a while. I'm proud to report I was able to run two miles, nonstop, at 9:58 pace. Not bad. I wasn't sure I could do one mile, let alone two. Toward the end I was about to die and the run was totally exhausting and humbling, but I was able to do it. I did have a TINY bit of baseline fitness left.

So we'll wait for the results! If I can run without a direct effect on my knees, maybe I can run a 2-3 times a week for 2-3 miles without much issue. If my knees blow up though, it's back to the drawing board. I'm only 30... I shouldn't have to be inactive for an entire year or sometime for my fucking knees to calm down. Spoiler alert: this isn't going to work.