Turkey Day Low Down - and stuff

I'm feeling less than inspired and witty today, please bare with me.  With less than a week to go before CIM, I'm in a bit of a worried state.   See, ever since I wore those heels a week or so ago, my left knee has been bothering me.  And not just bothering me, but full on bugging me and hurting on every run.  Thankfully it doesn't hurt when I am just walking, but by the time I'm running, it rears it's ugly head and tells me something is up.   So far, I have slogged through every run, just attempting to tune out the pain.  Sometimes it warms up and goes away, other times, like today, it stays with me the whole time.  Sometimes its sharp, sometimes its dull - but always in the same spot.  I know I'm not being too smart with attempting to keep running - but at this point, my sanity is just as important as having a functioning knee.

I managed to race the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  My knee was not happy about this either.  It was a chilly day, started out at 32 and by the time we left it was a balmy 33!  I took it as great practice for CIM which is always cold.  The race was really well organized and a decent course to run a fast race.  But I gave up in the middle miles when it got to that painful 10K point and my ass had literally frozen.  I managed to pick it up in the final mile and finish in 46:30.  Not a PR but not half bad for a pretty twisty course.  I also had the pleasure of having the hubbs and Layla join me!  We were home by 9 and putting the turkey in the oven by 9:30 - I would call that a success!

Turkey day went off with out a hitch, for the most part the out laws behaved themselves, and I also had Layla there to help keep me sane - thanks Layla.  I pretty much managed the whole dinner on my own, including clean-up, and by the time Friday morning came around I felt like I had ran a marathon!  From the second I got up on Thursday to the time I got in bed that night, I don't think I sat down once except to eat my dinner.  *sigh*  The positive thing about that is I didn't have to interact with the MIL too much! LOL!  I also got in some decent workouts and runs this weekend despite the knee pain.  I have a feeling it is my left quad that is really tight and is pulling on the knee.  It is sooooo painful to roll out that quad - it brings me to tears each time so I can only managed maybe rolling it twice.  I'm getting a massage either on Monday or Tuesday in hopes that will help me.  If not, that will be a very painful 26.2 mile jog come Sunday.

As I type this, I'm icing my knee and sipping some coffee after getting back from my final long run.  I was shooting for 13 but only hit 11.  I didn't want to push my luck any more than I have been.  I'm actually very worried about my knee (if you couldn't already tell!).  It's been in the back of my mind the whole week, and even though I took yesterday off from running to go for a spin with Doug in hopes that it would help, it didn't.  I'm still in the same boat.  No better, no worse. 

This week will be all about rehabbing that knee and my head.  I'm so focused on the fact that it could really ruin my race that I'm not working on staying positive and focused on my goal for the race.  I managed to get in 49.4 miles this week, which is almost right on where I wanted to be with my miles heading into the last week.  I'm so glad that I only have one week left - I'm so excited to not have a training calendar come December 6th!

I'm off to catch up with all of you.  I hope your Thanksgiving's were filled with family and good food! 
Next up will be my goals for CIM and hopefully some good news on the knee and tummy!
Have a great weekend!
Happy Running Peeps!