Blew out my knee today.

Okay, not really. I think I'm fine. But I was at Mile 21.5, just a few paces past the Here Be Dragons! sign when something in my left knee went pop! I hesitated, limped a bit, and then started into it again and there was a pop-pop-pop-pop, like a flat tire on the freeway. So I quit right there, and walked the rest of the way home. I'm man enough to know when far is far.

Pretty sure it's the Iliotibial Band, which, if you spend ten seconds looking it up on the Internet, you will find it at the top of the list under "Most Common Running Injuries." Furthermore, if you look under "Causes" it will say "Excessive uphill running," which is exactly what I was doing at the time of the first pop. (See elevation chart, above.) I was out for a nice, long, easy run. Up early, I thought I'd jog down to the beach and out to the end of the pier, and then come back along the San Luis Rey River, which has a nice autumnal scent to it this time of year. Then I headed up the BIG HILL and felt so good I pushed myself. I pushed it good and hard, and then... pop! Like all those times I over-tightened nuts on the Chevy 454 in my boat. (They strip right off.)

So I'm hitting the Advil and ice, taking a down day or so. It's all hills around here, anyway, so what's a guy to do? And it's all office work today (well, mostly) but this knee problem probably won't bode well for tomorrow's solo patio cover teardown, but, again, what's a guy to do? Everyone's gotta work.

Here's my run! I put an aid marker where I quit out and walked on home.




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