Tentative steps

Day:         99

Distance: 5.6km

Time:       36:36 secs

Calories:  475

I've been following the physio's advice and doing my stretches three times a day for the last few days, but even so as I step outside for my first run since Friday I feel nervous. Up until 6:30am last Friday I'd felt so confident, but that assurance is gone now and will take some time to build up again.

I'm only planning on taking it steady because I want to see how my knee feels but for the first 15 minutes I'm paying attention to every single foot fall and trying to work out if my left knee hurts. There are a couple of times when I think my knee's hurting, but I wonder if this is just because I'm focused on that joint and that joint alone.

I reach the end of the run with no apparent ill effects and I feel like I could go on quite easily but I stop because tonight is just about testing to make sure everything's in working order. I'll increase the time and distance of my runs over the course of this week, but this close to the marathon I'm not prepared to risk it all just because I think I should be doing more. 

Any relief at how well this run went is tempered somewhat by what happened last week. I'd had trouble with my knee after the half marathon, but was fine when I did an hour long run during the week. The pain I experienced on Friday occurred some 11 miles into what should have been a much longer run, so I really don't think tonight's run is enough to build confidence. I'm only going to know how things are after I get a long run under my belt at the weekend.