Options

Sometimes this log of mine is useful. Mildly useful. For instance, today I looked at it to see how long my knee has been hurting. Some people write these things in a log book, but I etch them into the Web.

Just so my imaginary readers don't have to look for themselves, it's been since September 6th. Or 16 days. As of today it's still achy and hurting. Walking up and down stairs continues to be an exercise in ways to avoid pain while also attempting to avoid looking like a complete idiot.

As I ran 6 miles in the ol' neighborhood this afternoon I contemplated my options. I'm seriously considering shutting down for a couple of weeks or until it gets better, whichever comes first. The drawback to this is that I would likely not have enough time after that to prepare for the Memphis Marathon. That's a serious drawback. But then so is hurting myself even worse than I already am and not being able to run for an extended period of time.

Another option is to shut down the running game but continue to do cross-training, such as biking and walking. I would probably do some of that with the first option, but in this scenario I'd be more serious about it to try and maintain my fitness level with the thought of getting back into running at a higher level and hopefully make the race.

I suppose the final option is to keep doing what I'm doing. The drawback to this one is clear.

I keep saying that we'll see how it feels tomorrow and plan from there, but after 16 days it's time to take a clear path. My plan calls for a 13-miler this weekend. I'm not going to do that one, mainly since I'm traveling on Saturday and Monday and the timing of my weekend activities (i.e., baseball games) actually helps me with the decision. I hate to stop running for any period during this time of year. I persevered through the hot summer and it feels like I should be able to enjoy running in the good weather. Especially since we have so little of it around here. But that's just pity, and that's not the basis for making a good decision.

Nuts.