2nd 20-mile run

In my training schedule for the Frederick Marathon are three twenty mile runs. The first was about three weeks ago and the details are here. At the end of that run, I was pretty sore and my IT band ached the last 5 miles. I could barely run for a couple of days and my next long run had to be cut short. So, as I prepared for this run, I was nervous.... about the distance, about my knee, about my attitude. I had gone to the Doctor about my knee and he gave me a cortisone shot, which was suppose to help and last for three months. I'm also suppose to start working on core exercises, which I am.

I got up at 6am to prepare to run. After dressing, I had a bagel and some caffeine. I got my hydration belt, my two GUs, my sunglasses, and my (extra) knee strap and got ready to go. I also taped my left knee with the KT tape. Kinda felt like batman with so much stuff strapped to my waste. I hit the road at 6:50am.

My plan was stop and stretch my IT band every 4 miles whether I needed it or not. I wanted to hydrate and take a GU every 8 miles. I had a 10-mile loop worked out, and I planned to run it twice.

First four miles went easy... I stopped and stretched... no problem

Second four miles went pretty easy... I stopped and stretched and had water and GU. Every once in a while, I felt something in my knee... but not bad... I was having tightness in my right hamstring, but the stretching helped.

I stopped at 10-miles to turn around. I stopped and stretched. So far feeling good.

At Mile 11, left knee started bothering me... my first thought was "shit!" and I almost stopped and turned toward home. I stopped and stretched, shorten my pace, and my knee stopped bothering me.

Mile 12, my right knee was getting achy... so i stopped and stretched... seems like a trend

Mile 14, felt pretty good, but still decided to stop and stretch.

Mile 16, stopped, had water and GU and stretched... my legs were tired, but nothing hurt

Mile 18, felt pretty good, but by now I was paranoid, so I stopped and stretched.

Last two miles were not bad... no real pain except for expected achy legs. And I never used the extra knee strap!

So, I did it, and without too much pain... afterwords, I showered, ate and went to the park with the kids. Ended up playing Trac Ball for about two hours. As I sit here and write this, my legs are tired, but feel good. I think I'll be able to run tomorrow!!

This run gave me a bit of confidence and made me think that I may be able to do this marathon thing..... which is in about 43 days... yikes!