Sympathy Pains

A good friend and fellow peer-pressure-induced blogger Andrea has been suffering from issues with her right knee. She is doing the smart thing by taking it easy for a week. When I read her blog, I commented that I was being supportive and getting sympathy pains since I felt a little twinge in my right knee as well. I thought it was pretty funny.

It is no longer funny.

The knee felt fine during an abbreviated track work out with Amelia and Ken (thanks Amelia for setting it up, and Ken for dragging me around the track!), but sort of flared up later in the night. The "twinge" blossomed into to a "grimace" and is both above and below the knee cap. I definitely feel it going up the stairs the next day.

But it didn't concern me until at the end of my run yesterday, the twinge/grimace turned into a full blown case of "gimpy asymmetric shuffle" going up the bit of hill on Kits Point. "Why is that man running funny, mommy?" was what I heard when I ran by a kid sitting on the grass. Ok, I think he was actually asking his mom for ice-cream, but that's not important. What is important is that this is first time the knee has affected my running stride since issues with the IT Band 4 weeks prior to the BMO. And it doesn't feel like it's the IT Band this time. It feels, dare I say it, structural?

I should have probably skipped the subsequent ulti game but it was a nice day and it only seem to hurt when I do stairs or run up hills. Obviously I am not as smart as Andrea. That was evident with how I felt after the ulti games.

Not quite sure what to do now? Visit the family doctor? "Stop running for a bit" is what he'll say. Massage? Chiropractor? Physio? Acupuncture? Prayer? Medicinal marijuana?

Like I said, not funny anymore.