No rainbows without rain...

It’s been 7 whole days since the Sunderland 10k and I’ve been out for two runs this week. I’m looking forward to going to running group again tomorrow evening as it feels like ages since I’ve been there!

On Wednesday I went out for a little run around the lake to stretch my legs after Sunday. It was just a gentle run and I saw some rabbits which made me smile. I walked a little way but ran most of it. I am still finding it difficult running on my own and give up and walk much more easily than I do if I’m out with others. Overall, it wasn’t a bad run and I am glad I made the effort to go out.

On Friday I wanted to go out for a bit of a longer run so I decided to head to the river and see where my feet took me. It was raining when I left the house so I decided to wear my jacket. This proved to be a mistake 10 minutes down the road, as the rain soon stopped and it was pretty warm! I tied it round my waist and just kept running. My legs began to feel a bit heavy so I tried walking it out. I ran and walked for a little bit, but I don’t think I should have started walking as I found it difficult to get going again.

I started to run down a rather steep hill and my right knee began to hurt like it did on Sunday. I couldn’t continue running so I walked down the hill before I started running again. This was about 4km into my run. I was unable to run for more than 40-50 seconds before the pain started in my knee again. There was no pain when I walked, but as soon as I ran it was really painful.

The pretty view when I was running

At 5.5km I decided that I was nearer my granddads house than home. ‘Grandad just lives at the top of that hill, not far at all!’ I thought. I had to walk up the hill as my knee just did not want me to run – funny, it seemed an awful lot longer on foot than it does when I drive it! I then had to walk across the road, and all the way round the corner. It was a whole kilometre from where I decided I was very near. My plan was to say hello to granddad, have a drink of water, quick toilet stop then walk/run the 3 miles home. Grandad offered me some birthday cake (how could I say no?!) then a lift home. My head wanted to say ‘no thank you’ but I could feel my legs screaming ‘YES! Yes please!’. Half way home in the car I realised I hadn’t stopped my Garmin – amazingly I did a km in under 2 minutes – no way I’d beat that on foot!

Once home, and no longer running, my knee was fine (and indeed has been since) and it didn’t take me long to feel very disappointed in myself for accepting a lift home. However, my knee was really sore and at least I still ran 6.5km. More than I would have done if I’d stayed at home!

I didn’t do the parkrun yesterday as I had a busy day socialising and drinking tea (with people I don’t see very often). Definitely hoping to do a parkrun next saturday (though it is the day after my birthday!)

I’m hoping my knee is ok now and that it will be ok tomorrow night when I run. I think I need to stretch and foam roller some more (my routine keeps starting and stopping!)

I wasn’t going to blog about what feels like a bit of a failed run. But then I decided I have to blog about the highs and lows as that’s what makes the journey. At least next time I will feel happier when I run all the way and it leaves room for improvement!

I knew running wouldn’t be easy, but I really didn’t think it would be quite as hard as it is! Then again you need sunshine and rain to get the beauty of a rainbow! Thanks again for reading this, and for sharing in my journey!