Great Success!!

Back in the Saddle! (figuratively speaking)

Today I ran for an hour!  Hooray!  That follows a short 1.5-2mi excursion last night.  Finally, after about 10 days of resting and rehab of sorts to deal with my painful left knee, I am running pain free and glad to be back outside.  I was starting to get depressed.  

Saturday night, after working all afternoon belaying climbers at the rec center, I tested my knee with a short run over to neighboring Belmont University.  There, my roommate and some friends were running for the1st place prize of a year's worth of Chick-fil-A.  Yeah!  Although, they may not have been in the top of field, they all did a great job!  I enjoyed being out there, cheering on other runners.  I especially love seeing folks who are obviously not born runners putting in the hard work and have a great time!  Kudos to them.  I will respect them over an uptight elite athlete anytime.   Anyway, congrats to all the runners including my friends.  

So now the focus becomes the Stump Jump 11-miler Oct 4th.  These next two weeks I plan on getting some more trail time to prepare.  I'm looking forward to it!  I need to get back in the running groove while not jumping in too quickly and reigniting any problems.  

Review

-Foam Roller:  If you have not tried out these incredibly simple tools, you are missing out.  I was just introduced to one 2wks ago, but it has made a big difference.  Essentially a hard rod of dense foam, it is used by rolling over it, which gives an almost deep message feeling (imagine rolling dough with a rolling pin).  It hurts SO good.  I've been using one once a day or so for the last week.  I bought my own little roller - 18in x 4in diameter, which is convenient and does the job just as well as the 3ft roller.  AND it cost me a whole 10 bones, as opposed to $30-40 of that other skinny, handheld massage device (I actually have never used it, but it is $$$).  So I definitely recommend one.

Big thanks to Vandy Sports Medicine who helped me get over the knee pain.