Runs, Goals and Knees

It has been a beautiful couple of days in my neighborhood! In fact, last night (Wednesday) was almost too summery—it had to be in the mid-80s when I ran after work. But more than anything else, it was my anxiety about running in the muggy, warm air that hampered me at all.

I’m glad to report, however, that once I got over myself and warmed up my muscles, I had a nice 5.02-mile run around my neighborhood. And on Tuesday I took a slow 3.3-mile run after giving myself a touch of recovery time.

Neil, Salty and Natalie are right, though: I’m strongly considering getting my knee checked out. I’ve never really had a serious or nagging injury (knock on wood), so I don’t think I believe this thing won’t go away. But I may be persuaded in the next couple of days. I’ve found and have been given a number of resources/doctor-references to get a check-out, so perhaps I’ll see what’s up in the next couple of weeks.

On a brighter note: congratulations to everyone who ran some kick-butt races at the Cleveland Marathon (full, half and 10K…. or should we say 10-mile?) last weekend. I was so bummed to miss out on the fun, but it was for a good cause.

But now it’s goal time. It’s been a couple months since I’ve set a month mileage goal (remember when I set January’s goal for 30 miles and thought I would never make it?), and thought I might get back to that. Not only was it nice to have a goal, but I think it helped me with my focus, which tends to wane sometimes.

So, I thought it might be reasonable to target 100 miles for the next four weeks (starting this past Tuesday). I ran 92 miles in April and will run about as much in May, so I thought it was about time I aim for the century mark. But knowing my uncanny ability to overdo things, I will keep my limitations in mind ;-)

Good news in another arena is that my home computer is up and running again. So, I look forward to catching up on my blog-reading and writing (again). And while I’m at it, I just might get my bike tuned and patched up and start on my brick workouts again.

Speaking of which, I’m reigniting my swimming streak next Monday. It has to be at least a month since I last swam and I’m so looking forward to the feeling of starting all over again and swimming through that pain threshold about which I lecture everyone. Ahh, nothing like your own medicine.