READY OR NOT, HERE COMES MIAMI

Miami last year. Looks like I just remembered
that I accidentally left the stove on.

Quick update on my knees as we head into the Miami Marathon THIS SUNDAY! Yikes!

So after my snow run, my knees felt really good. No third day reckoning like the pattern had seemed to indicate before. My knees might have felt a little “worn” but nothing that approached the usual flare up. It’s not like they are healing or anything, they still lack any power should I need it and bending them in certain ways (aka much at all) is met with much concern. However, when I am able to walk around and use stairs without thinking about it, I count that as a win. So the time after the 4.3 mile snow run was a win.

Twelve days later (on the 19^th) I decided to go for another run since my legs were feeling good and I wanted to make sure the previous run wasn’t a fluke. So I took off work a little early so I could do it in the daylight and went for it. It was tougher than the snow run funnily enough, but I was able to do four miles without too much issue. I took a hillier route than usual, my old 10k route cut short, and I could definitely feel that. I did power walk up one steep hill, but otherwise it was a solid jog at 10:45/mile. After I was done with the four miles I did another mile that was a combination of walking and jogging, just to get some more miles on my legs.

Overall, my legs responded well and it was encouraging. While I was sore afterward, again, it wasn’t quite as bad as before and the run itself didn’t totally smash me physically. It was doable. The half marathon is going to be hard and feel like marathons have in years past, but I think I’ll be able to do it. If I can do five miles without issue, what is another eight? After this run my knees also felt great. I’ve been wearing the knee braces and I wonder if that has made a difference at all. Yesterday, Sunday, should have been the day three “blow up” but it was nowhere to be found. I felt so good that I played catch with Brandon and was running around. This was without braces. And today my knees feel no so fresh. Ugh. Now, typically they blow up really bad if I’m going to have issues, going from red to green in a day, so hopefully this is just a small bump and they’ll feel better tomorrow.

It’s also hard to tell because when you sit around they like to stiffen up (one of the symptoms of what happens with psoriatic arthritis, whaddaya know!). So I’ve been sitting around all day at work and they are stiff. As I know from physical therapy, if I “warm them up” they feel pretty good and I can do things. So I don’t know. I would like to get another run in, but maybe I should just do cardio on the elliptical (although, my one test on there also resulted in a blow up). I’m not sure. Just want to beef up as much as I can cardio wise before the half, but cramming for the exam at this point probably isn’t the best idea. We’ll see. If anything I think I’ll just do three miles so I don’t push things.

UPDATE: Well, I didn't post this Monday as expected, so I'll report how I feel today, Tuesday. Okay. About the same as yesterday. Maybe a touch better. Both days would be a "yellow" on the old chart. So not bad. I might not do anything until the race. Don't want to chance anything. Excited for my trip though!