Yesterday's run was a defining momemt for me.  My knee caused me to go down twice.  I was extremely angry with the situation.   I have been training hard for the marathon and I did not want to throw it away.  Not only was the marathon slipping away, but future triathlons were also on the line. 

Last night, my wife and I were looking up sports medicine physicians and ortho specialists to call in the morning.  That was really depressing.  I did not want to hear the doctor say, "don't run… rest the knee".  I mean, if someone goes to see a doctor and says, "my knee hurts", of course the physician will say rest the knee.

Anyway, I was tossing and turning all night trying to figure out what to do.  Around 4am, I had an idea.  Sometime ago I switched to stability running shoes at the advice of a salesperson that said I was overpronating.  Overtime, my knee had gotten worse.  It did help the ankle pain though.  I got the bright idea to use my old "neutral" running shoes.  It was a last ditch effort.  To me it was worth a try.

So I put on the shoes and went for a slow run.  The pain in the knee was not as extreme as it was yesterday.  I kept going and, while I could feel some pain, it wasn't enough to stop me.  Better yet, it didn't take me down.  Just as a precaution, I walked at the 2 mile mark for about .25 mile and then resumed running.   I was able to go 4 miles.  I could have gone farther, but I did not want to push it.

I am convinced that the stabilizing running shoe was the main cause of the knee problem.  I am going to proceed cautiously.  The knee is still damaged so I have to watch it.  

I got an appt for the sports med doctor, but the soonest I can see her is Nov 3.  So in the meantime I will take things one day at a time.