Wheels Rolling

The weather has been agreeable enough lately to allow me to get in some rides lately. I'm up to 6 outdoor rides this year (and one hour on the trainer, today, in fact) for a total of 121 miles. My longest ride so far has been a little over 26 miles, and my pace has averaged right around 17 mph. Nothing to crow about, but I feel like my fitness is very gradually beginning to improve. While I won't claim to have become a hard-core, 100% cyclist, I'm embracing it more than before.

My daughter has a 10k trail race coming up on April 19th. I'm also signed up for the race. I obviously can't full-on race it (or even completely run it) with my left knee being a mess, but I'm hoping to maybe run/walk it, just to get out and enjoy nature a bit. I'm not sure if I can do any training runs leading up to it. I may give it a shot, but I'm not hopeful at all. I tried jogging about 20 feet while walking my dog the other morning, and the pain set in immediately.

That's about it from here in currently rainy Spokane (thus, my trainer ride today.)

I hope your running/riding/swimming/exercising is going well!

I'm Baaaaack (we'll see for how long)...

I have once again rejoined the running world. I logged three short, slow runs this week (2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles), and boy am I out of shape! That doesn't bother me. I've been there before and I know the drill. What does bother me is how my left knee is feeling. It's been hurting, quite a lot, for probably 40% of my running time. It usually settles down a bit once I'm well into the run, but even then I feel like I need to baby it a little. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure this knee needs to be scoped. But, of course, I've already gone and signed up for a 10k trail race with my daughter on April 19th. I also bowl in a league (as you know if you've read a recent entry), so if/when I get something done, it'll at least be after bowling season ends in March. I'm hoping the knee pain diminishes on its own and I can run the race. It's been hurting for a long time, though (over a year, even during walks), so it's probably not just a passing thing.

My left hip seems to be pretty tight and sore most of the time, too. Feels almost arthritic. The body is slowly breaking down. Jeesh, I'm not THAT old!

But I am glad — pain or not — to be back out there, running some miles with my dog...who also needs to get back in shape.

My quest to get to 10,000 lifetime running miles (which I thought I was doing last year) is back in action. I'm currently 123 miles shy of the mark.

I'll get there...