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"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad tempered or tell you what to do." --Alan Sillitoe

I ran my 6 miles on Saturday in my new, cushy-but-ugly Brooks, with no knee pain at all! I ran in a park nearby with a nice 3 mile loop. The weather was beyond perfect, and it was one of the best runs I've had in a long time. I didn't even feel tired afterward. It was particularly interesting because there was a race going on--- as far as I could tell it was a 5k for collegiate cross country runners (male). I was embarrassingly slow in comparison, but they were all panting and heaving, and I was just enjoying my run. Every now and then I would be near a runner and one of their coaches or friends would shout encouraging words to them, and I pretended they were for me. The most memorable one was, "I know it hurts, man, but focus on something else! Like the top of your head! Or your shoulders!"

Even though I didn't have any knee pain, my achilles was hurting around miles 4 and 5. My knee also continues to pop regularly when climbing stairs or hills, or standing up from a sitting position. It seems to me that the sound is getting a little quieter though. I went to see the PT at my gym today to ask him if it was safe to run on it and he told me that I should be okay, but that I should start doing some dynamic stretching before I start my runs to get the blood flowing. As far as I have gathered, one of two things usually causes knee misalignment:

1) You have muscles that work together that do not have equal amounts of strength. For example, if your hamstrings are stronger than your quads, the stronger muscle might pull the knee out of proper alignment.

2) Similar to the first, except that one muscle is much tighter than the other, so it also pulls the knee out of alignment.

PT seemed to think that my ITB might be too tight, and he could be right--I haven't focused on it while stretching. Anyway, I was happy to hear that he thought it would work itself out and that I can run if I take it easy.

So here is my weekly plan:
Today- RestRestRest!
Tuesday-3 miles, easy
Wednesday- 3 miles, easy
Thursday- 3 miles, hills
Friday- Rest/strength
Saturday- 7 miles, easy
Sunday- XT

{6 miles in new new Brooks)