I was worried about this race because it was my first time running 6 miles since the knee injury.    I was also trying out a new knee strap and didn’t know what to expect. It was a hilly course, with one long hill around mile 4, but I did not seem tired on this course, and my knee held up well,  with just some minor pain to deal with

The Altra’s are great shoes,  but my calf muscles were sore alot, and I kept wondering if I would be able to train in these shoes in the short term because of the days I needed off from running.  So I looked for another pair of running shoes that I could wear to help me transition to the Altra’s. Newton Distance III seemed to fit the bill of what I

I have not posted anything since announcing I was going to run Chicago, so here’s what’s happening. Training will begin in June.  In the meantime, I am running and coming back slowly.  My knee still hurts some on longer runs. By longer runs, I mean 5-6 mile runs.  It seems worse if hills are involved. I am experimenting with knee braces/straps to see if they might help me.   This

I am one of the fortunate ones to get into the 2014 Chicago Marathon – my first marathon!  After not getting into the Marine Corp Marathon through lottery, it is great that I got into Chicago. Chicago is a very flat course and one of the best courses for first timers.  With my knee still recovering, it is good that I will not have to worry much about hills.  Looking

I am contemplating my first full marathon this fall. Due to my knee issue, a course without many hills is preferred.  The Chicago Marathon is a flat course, which would be perfect.  And it is considered one of the top 3 races in the country that are “must do” runs (the others being Boston and New York City). Due to its popularity in recent years, this year Chicago has decided

This past Sunday I decided to run my normal route at home, which is loaded with hills.  While going uphill does not seem  to bother my knee, continued running downhill might.  I experienced very mild but noticeable pain in my knee for the last mile or so. That is a bit concerning, because that is what my knee felt like at first when my injury happened. I did 4 miles.

This was my longest run since my injury, and I ran in the Altra’s.  My calf muscles were not terribly sore prior to the race.  The day before I was giving some deworming shots to some llamas, and one of the llamas managed to ram my bad knee right into a fence post! Ouch!  That had me concerned about running a 5K the next morning,  Luckily it did not seem

I have been very encouraged by the progress I have been making.  I started running 1 mile  increments every other day or so in March a few times a week in the minimalist shoes.  It is a gradual slow process, but at least there is progress. I just started running 2 miles at a time, and today I ran 2.1 miles, the longest run since February 2, without any pain.

Early Treatment I am currently recovering from the worse injury I’ve ever had from running. It’s been more than 6 weeks. I have told this story in another post, so be sure to read that first.  This injury happened on February 2, Super Bowl Sunday. Finishing a run that you know you just made a moderate injury worse is not a good feeling.  When this happened to me, the question