Frustration

Two posts in a single day! Might this be the end of the dry-spell?

I haven't written much about running lately and it's not because of my not trying to get out now and then. Instead, it's because I physically cannot run. Well, not for long anyways. I've been diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome in the right knee, a fairly-common injury for runners. It's a painful injury but fortunately, it's also treatable. Unfortunately, recovery is a long process and progress is slow.

My right knee started hurting a few months back, after a long run along the seawall. Walking was no problem, except when walking down a steep hill. When I went hiking with Joanne last month, the hike up was amazing, the hike down almost brought me to tears. I asked my GP about it and she sent me to a sports doctor at UBC. Apparently, I was lucky because my doctor is fairly known in Vancouver for treating serious athletes (and occasionally, sports enthusiasts like myself).

The treatment is not very complicated, I must do drop-squats every day with increasing weights. OK, not too bad. I can also continue running, but only for short times, and have to stop as soon as my knee starts hurting. The first week, that was around 5 minutes. Today, I can do about 10. Ten minutes... I'm so far from the half-marathon days :-( At this rate, I might be able to run a 5k in the fall.

This is very frustrating, especially considering that running is my own form of meditation and relaxation.

This is the song I'm listening to: Laisser l'été avoir 15 ans, Natasha St-Pier et Claude Dubois