Four years ago, if anyone were to tell me that I would one day be able to run over a mile, and enjoy it, and eventually run and complete a half-marathon under 3hrs, I would not have believed them.  It was unimaginable to me.

But we (the bro, the hubby and me) did it last weekend! I’m very proud of all of us! It didn’t come easy and there were some tough days leading up to it: too much sight-seeing and walking around Montreal in the rain and chill, and too much exploring at the fun Running Expo and not enough focus on proper nutrition and carbo loading, and me getting some bad stomach cramps and a severe headache the night before; my bro got a giant bruise on his shin when he slammed it the day before the trip, my hubby’s sinuses acting up….

But all that goes out the window when you become part of the crowd! The energy of race day takes over. When I registered, I put myself down for the last corral, thinking at best, I would finish around 3:30 minutes. (The time limit was 3:45.) I didn’t have high expectations on my time — just wanted to finish under the limit.  The first 6 miles wasn’t so bad. Even the next 2 after that was ok. But mile 9 and beyond became a mental and physical battle. The sole of my left foot, and eventually right foot, and the bony area under both big toes started hurting like a mutha$@$!@# every time each foot landed and it only got worse as I ran. It felt like my feet were going to split open right at the big toes.  I started to try not to land on the ball of my feet and that made my knee start to hurt a lot.  Then my thighs started to burn and ache, and my calves would tighten up and many times
around mile 11 or 12, my knee did not want to bend anymore.  But my hubby stuck with me to keep coaxing me on even though he could have just sprinted on ahead as he was doing ok and wasn’t feeling as much pain or fatigue as I was.  At one point, I even spent several minutes just speed walking my way through the streets of Montreal. Throw in more walk breaks and stretch breaks as we neared mile 13…. and somehow, the finish line was near.  Montreal has the friendliest and most supportive spectators — en francais too! When a spectator saw me walking and shouted, “come on, it’s only 500 meters away!”, I started running again and pushed myself to keep running till I crossed it at 2:59!  (Those were the longest 500 meters of my life!)
Right after crossing the finish line, all I wanted to do was lie down on the grass and have someone massage my thighs and calves and lower back because everything hurt!  Standing was an ordeal as the lactic build-up was just cramping up all over my thighs and we were all walking funny. But somehow, we managed to chill for a while, take in the ambience, watch the post-run concert a little bit, amble out of the park and mosey on down to St. Denis for some poutine and burgers at Frites Alors! before getting back to the hotel room to stretch and massage out those sore muscles!

Do I want to do this again? If you asked me right after I finished, I may have said no. Now, a week later, I do feel like doing it again! 🙂 Maybe not right away. My knee pain still haven’t fully disappeared and I still have to rehabilitate it. But I have a few short NYRR races that I’m thinking of signing up but will wait till after I come back from my next trip.  What I would want to improve on next time is the training — start training earlier and adhere to the training plan with more discipline and have better nutrition goals.  I didn’t train very well this time and hurt my knee back in July/Aug.  I also didn’t eat right (having drank alcohol prob 3-4 times the days leading up to the race trip and also eaten more fried, oily foods than I should have) and never ran more than 6 miles before hitting the 13.1 so it was pretty brutal on my body.  That said, all the soreness officially left my legs by Wed or Thurs.

My new running goals is to improve on speed and to attain the following:

• sub 30min 5k
• sub 1hr 10k
• achieving the 10-min mile (and eventually hitting a sub-10 min mile if possible)
• drop 15 lbs (which would help with speed and take a load off the knees!)

Thank you Montreal for a great race!

On Friday, I went to the physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, also known as a physiatrist, to get a second opinion, as advised by my primary care physician. What I learned is that my PCP is pretty darn good! After a more involved examination involving twisting and pushing my legs this and that way and making me walk back and forth around the office and walk while crouching, the physiatrist confirmed what my PCP said — that indeed I do have patella femoral syndrome.  He gave me a set of exercises and stretches to do and prescribed that I get a chopat strap for BOTH knees. Apparently my right knee is also exhibiting symptoms of it though I have not felt them yet. Bummer.

The doctor said that if I did the quad exercises and stopped running for a while (probably months or longer), it should go away.  I have another check in with him in a month. If it still is an issue, next steps would be physical therapy.  He said I could run the race if I really wanted to but I would need to do so with knee straps for both knee and that at the first sign of pain, I need to stop running. The race is less than a month away and I stopped training about 3 weeks ago. I want to give it a try and just monitor the situation, I guess. I have a 3h and 45min time limit — maybe I can speed walk the 13.1??
Today, I bought a knee strap from REI. At first I tied it on too tight and my calf started throbbing in pain (cutting off circulation!).  After loosening it and walking around for a while, it seems ok. Though not as tight or “supportive” as the knee brace. I hope to go for a jog or longer walk or get some time on the elliptical with that and see how it feels. I would be sad if it turns out my genes and biomechanics point to the fact that I’m not meant for long distance running. Running has been a great stress reliever and a good way to exercise with minimal equipment. The other thing I like to do is play tennis but that is a high maintenance sport: rent a court, get a partner, and get tennis balls (luckily I have over 30 cans). With this knee, it will be a while before I can handle the quick and speedy back and forth shuffling required in tennis! 🙁

I know this is a very common knee injury, not just for runners but for many athletes and also for older people and people who do work that requires a lot of repetitive movements of the knee but I still feel disappointed about being injured while trying to be healthy and active. Well, I guess I have to focus more on the other other muscles in the hip, quads and core as well since these injuries happen when the body isn’t trained holistically.

Update on the KT tape: They keep falling off after one day! And I got a slight rash from the 3rd one I used. It may be because I haven’t figured out how to apply them properly or something but that was a bit disappointing as I was hoping the KT tape could be the best thing to support my knee during the work days (something that isn’t bulky under my pants and won’t cut off my circulation after 12-14 hours of mostly sitting). I have been wearing the knee brace to work and let’s just say by 2pm, I start to feel a tingling in my leg and by 4pm, I feel my lower leg go numb and soon my toes start to feel weirdly cold and before I leave the office, I have to remove the brace. Not fun.

The cost of knee pain so far: $78. Ah. It could be worse, I guess. Let’s get healthy!

• $10 – first doc visit
• $20 – physiatrist visit
• $18 – knee brace
• $13 – KT tape
• $17 – knee strap