I finally took the knee out for a test run.  I’ll rate it a B-.  It didn’t really hurt on a 3.4 mile run at the flat part of Lebanon Hills.  I figured an easy run on trails would be a good test back for it.  A friend, who happens to be the Twin Cities Team World Vision rep is hosting training runs for TWV teams throughout the metro and was going to the Lebanon Hills run so I went with him.   It was 53 and raining, so a great day for a run!  We went pretty slow, which was fine for a first run back after 5 weeks off.  It never really hurt, but I could feel that my knee wasn’t perfect.  I finished the run and everything was fine, my Plantar Fasciitis foot didn’t hurt really at all either.  I stretched a little bit and jumped in Schulze Lake (up to the knee) to ice.  Later in the day it hurt a little and appeared to have a little swelling so I iced and took some Advil.  It was fine on Sunday morning.

My foot has had only a little bit of pain the last few days.  It seems at the end of the day is really the only time it hurts now, which is progress.  The pain is really mild too so that is good!   I’ll probably wait at least another week or so before running again.

I biked 4 times over the week and that has continued to feel fine.  It is a great feeling to bike to and from work.  Some of the biking also included rain, which wasn’t quite as fun but is par for the course.  I’m trying to bike commute as much as possible – more for the exercise and saving money than saving the earth!  Actually though I did bike on Earth Day and I wouldn’t mind keeping the Earth around for awhile longer!

On Saturday after the training run we went and watched some of the Get in Gear races.  It was fun to watch the back of the 5k and 10k groups and also to see the half-marathon leaders finish.  I didn’t get to see any of my friends finish, but via Twitter I was able to encourage some runners to get out despite the rain (and early morning thunder).

It was a fairly busy week with some long hours for both of us.  Christy and I checked out a cafe in Nordeast and loved it, Mill City Cafe. It is one of many cute little neighborhood places.

How was your week?

This week’s One Post has to be my Treatments for Plantar Fasciitis even though I have an updated version.

Weekly Mileage –

Running – 3.4 miles

Biking – 25.8 miles

Some excellent news this week. I had blood work drawn on Monday to test for at least 6 different things including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and lyme disease.  Thankfully, everything came back normal!! This is great news! And bad news, this really means that we have no idea why the knee swelled up in the first place.  The doc seems to think that it was bruised or tweaked.  Since the swelling had gone down considerably she wanted me to stop taking Aleve again and see what happens.  Fortunately, as of this writing the swelling seems to be pretty much gone!

The doctor confirmed again that as long as my knee functioned in the range of motion, it was safe to bike.  I was feeling a little adventurous and decided on Thursday to ride my bike the 3.7 miles to work.  I had an evening function downtown and  knew that if I needed to I could bus or go home and get the car.  I actually felt good enough to ride around with Christy a bit totally up almost 13 miles for the day!

Then I biked again on Friday only getting 8.5 miles but it actually felt really good.  When I biked on Saturday I didn’t feel any knee pain and actually felt good riding on the bike.  Saturday was another gorgeous day and I hit the Greenway, went to a meeting, became the mayor of Maria’s again, and biked to a staff vs student’s basketball game (to watch/cheer).

I didn’t do anything on Sunday except spending a lot of time outside doing landscaping work.  Not the most exciting thing in the world, but I got a lot done and the front of the house looks so much better (see picture).

I’m thinking at this point that I might try running again this upcoming weekend, unless something feels off then I might wait a little longer!

It felt so amazing to be out biking around!! The weather was perfect -shorts and a long-sleeved shirt!

This week’s One Post is actually two very random and funny posts.  The first is about two running related lists and the other two random race-related disasters.

Weekly Mileage:

Bike – 34.5 miles

How was your week?

The swelling on my knee has slowly gone down with Aleve and ice.  Each day it seems that there is an improved range of motion and less stiffness.  There has really only been pain when the knee is forced to bend too much.  The worst of the pain is while driving and the knee is bent at that odd angle with weird forces and pressure being applied.  Up until the end of this past week I’ve been using my left foot to brake! It seems as if all the swelling/fluid is gone but it still seems that my knee looks a little funny. I go back to the doctor today (Monday) so we’ll see what she wants to do.

Otherwise it was a good week. I actually did some yard work on Sunday and that was good. Not sure what we are going to do with our new flower gardens/landscaping – anyone got some cheap ideas?

Sunday night we volunteered at the Casting Crowns concert with World Vision. One of my best friends is the World Vision rep on their tour and it was at the Xcel. We got into the concert for free, got to hang out with my friend, and help recruit new child sponsors. It was a lot of fun and through the concert over 200 new children have a sponsor! What a great evening.

One Post this week is my 2008 discussion of the Maasai running the London Marathon.

I finally got an MRI done on Tuesday and the results on Thursday.  The good news is that the results don’t show any damaged parts.  My ligaments, cartilage, meniscus, etc all looked fine on the MRI images.  The only thing that showed up was swelling, which was the obvious.  This is really good news because most likely damage would have resulted in surgery.  After those results the doctor said to start taking Aleve and try to get rid of the swelling.  Even after a few days the swelling has gone down and I’m slowly gaining normal function of my knee! While this means we don’t have an actual diagnosis I’ll be happy to return to normal!

This was most definitely not how I had envisioned spending my spring break.  Especially one that had temps into the upper 70’s here in MN.  I was able to get a little bit of yard work and some inside work done, though you’d be surprised at how much an unbendable knee affects your ability to do much physical work.  We also had our first BBQ of the season and purchased (from craigslist) a fire pit and had our first “bonfire”.  They city calls them “recreational fires” but that sounds weird! My car also broke down this week, though we got it literally patched together.  The prognosis is that by the end of summer it will need to be sent into the car netherlands.

Enough about my life. Hopefully I’ll be able to at least bike and then run again soon.  How was your week? I’m definitely a bit jealous of all the people I see biking and running.

This week’s One Post is about Zen Running.