More guts than brains: A Valentine's Day 5K Race Report

by - Monday, February 16, 2009

"There's an old saying, 'Got more guts than brains.'"

That's what some older fellow said to me after I finished my 5K on Saturday morning and was limping back to my car. He asked me if I started that way or ended that way. I told him I was checking to see how my knee was doing. That's when he told me about the old saying.

My knee was not in a happy place after the race or for much of the rest of the day Saturday, but I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's backtrack to the actual race.

It was the race that was the closest to my house in a long time and it started at 10 a.m. so I got to sleep in a little bit before it actually started. Left the house by nine, got to the park by 9:30. Got my bib (No. 302) and hit the porta-potty. BF hung out with me before the race started. There were a ton of people there and it was a bright sunny day. Temps in the 40's. Beautiful running weather.

The race directors got everyone lined up and then we were off. My knee was taped up, but it started hurting right away. Not too bad, but I could feel it talking to me. I kept going though and I hit the first mile at 9:04ish. The first mile was a lot of downhill though.

I grabbed some water from the stop at mile 1.5. I kept moving and hit mile 2 around 18:34. By this point my knee was feeling a little bit better, but then I hit an uphill toward the end of the race and my knee started hurting a bunch. The finish was only a little bit further and I managed to cross the finish line in 29:15 on my watch, 29:18:09 by the official clock.

I also ran this race as part of the Freakishly Flexible 5K dedicated to NonRunner Nancy!

After the race, I grabbed some Gatorade, and a cookie and a package of strawberry shot blocks. I looked for Merry Mishaps at the food table because she told me that's where she was volunteering, but I couldn't find her. Bummer.

My knee really started hurting after I stopped running, like extreme pain walking back to the car. Boyfriend offered to drive back home so I could rest my leg. I iced it and rested for the rest of the day Saturday. By yesterday it was feeling a little better. Today it seems to be almost back to normal, but I'm not sure what to do now. I guess just more resting for now.

You May Also Like

16 comments

  1. yea, sounds like you're going to need some more rest. and some cross-training time. i can't wait to start that tri-power book just to get my knee back into working shape.

    Good time in the 5k, but i hate that it hurt so much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:47 AM

    why not make an appointment with a sports doc? if it gets better before then, you could always cancel.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry to hear that you were in so much pain after your 5K, hopefully with some more rest and ice you'll get it back to normal and then go from there. Your time was really good though!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rest and ice. Sorry to hear about the pain but hopefully you can take of your injury and return better than before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. strange that it hurt so much after the race. can you go back and see whoever you saw before for your knee?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry to hear that the race was so painful. I agree with others: You should probably go see an orthopedist at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:58 PM

    Sorry about the knee. Sounds like it wasn't ready for a race yet - especially with the hills.

    Are you doing PT anymore?

    ReplyDelete
  8. :( sorry your knee was hurting so bad after. great job on the 5k though!! hope the knee continues to feel better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sore knees are the worst. Rest up and I hope you get well soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's not fun, not a bad time for being in pain, I did my 5K in 38 minutes :S Had some pain in my left foot. It's really frustrating when you just want to run but your body is acting up!

    Great blog btw :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm sorry you're knee is giving you trouble -- I've been there before and it sucks!

    I was at the finish line telling everyone to stay in order and walk to the end of the chute. Looking at your finish time, it seems you might have been done around the time we started getting quite the backup at the finish line.

    This race keeps getting bigger and we tried to accommodate with an extra-long chute ... but we had a lot more finishers than expected!

    I run most Striders races -- see you next time!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice job on the 5K, but it sounds like your knee is bothering you pretty bad. Do you see an orthopedic or some other kind of doctor?

    ReplyDelete
  13. So was the man giving you a compliment on your guts or insulting your intelligence? :P

    ReplyDelete
  14. You keep plugging away at that knee issue till you get it figured out!! Well done with your race! You can race with an injury as long as you are smart about it, which you are :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hope the knee feels better soon. Good 5K time though. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. way to tough out the 5k but sorry to hear your knee isn't doing too well. give it some rest and xt for a week or 2?

    ReplyDelete