Pain, Not Good

So, yesterday, I headed out for a 3 hour run. I was going along pretty good, I stopped a bit at 90 minutes to stretch -- I was feeling tight in all the major muscle groups of my legs, and then carried on. About twelve minutes later I got a shooting pain in my left knee. I stopped, tried to rub it out, walked it off a bit, then tried running again. I came down an incline and the pain got really intense -- my knee sort of seized up though that's not the right word -- it still moved, but the pain was sharp enough that it brought me up short. I shut it down right there, got on my phone and called Mrs. Agricola to come get me.

I'd planned all along to run out for three hours, then stop and start walking back. Mrs. A was to come out and get me -- leaving the Quarter Acre around 2:30 into my run. We knew the route, and I'd just be walking back along it. I figured to cover between 18-20 miles and was feeling good at 1:50. I was thinking "oh, good, 70 minutes to go, no problem, I feel good, I'm enjoying this, I've always wanted to run this route, cool, the tightness I can handle . . ." then the knee pain and an abrupt halt.

I've been feeling some twinges in this knee for the past week, but not thinking much of them as they passed. I got another twinge in this knee at about 2.5 miles into yesterday's run and it passed too. I'm going to call my doctor today and see what he says -- I'll probably see him then someone else. I'm sure the knee pain is related to my ankle injury, and given the location of the swelling, and the pain, I'll not be surprised if it's something in the meniscus/cartilage . . . bummer. Just when I was in good shape and really enjoying the long runs I get dinged. VTR and I had a funny conversation -- I called him as I walked back along my route, and that was humorous. I'll let you know what I learn.

I did a fast five on Saturday, as well -- 40 minute fiver, though more and more I'm ignoring distance and focusing on time spent running.