Been a while since I’ve written about my running activities. Really, that’s mostly because there have been a lot of other activities that I’ve been up to that have kind of trumped running in terms of stuff that I want to report here. That being said, a lot has happened over the past week or so.

So, last Tuesday, after work I was walking down the stairs at the subway station to find a subway waiting for the signal to leave. I ran right into the first car only to find it packed with people. Apparently, the train had been waiting for a while and most people had the same idea to rush into the first car instead of risking being left behind. Fair enough. I couldn’t really make it far into the car. I tried to nudge my way in a little bit but unlike the crowds you see on those Japanese subway videos where you see everyone getting packed in like a bunch of sardines, people here were pretty unyielding. It’s probably for the best, I guess because I’d rather not have station attendants really shoving my ass to get me on. I ended up having to hold onto a panel by the doors, which still remained open.

After a few moments of uncomfortably hanging on, I just said “nuts to this” and decided to dash for the next car. I figured that there’d be a lot more space there anyway. Thing is, I didn’t want to risk getting shut out–last thing I wanted was to step off the train, hear the chimes and get closed out making me wait for the next, and surely delayed train. Well, I took the chance and stepped off. I started making my way, but wouldn’t you know it, the train the whole *pin pan pon* causing me to bolt for the doors. I made it to the next car, and indeed it was spacious–I was even able to find a seat. Issue was though, as soon as I sat down I could feel that my right knee was really achy. Oops.

I didn’t want to start bending and unbending it because I didn’t want to draw attention to it. So, I just sat there waiting for my stop to come. When I got off and started walking over to my car, I started to feel a clicking in my knee. Definitely odd. Whenever I straightened my leg, I could feel my kneecap kind of doing something, like every time it straightened it was somehow constantly realigning itself. It’s hard to explain. If I had to compare the feeling to something, I’d compare it to the feeling you get when you crack a knuckle. If you can imagine it, it seems a little unnerving, doesn’t it? Well, I figured I’d head to the Running Room anyway to hear the talk–that’s what the plan was anyway. I figured that I’d just run gently to assess if my knee was really injured. As I started out, I knew immediately that I was off. I was really hobbling with every step. Landing on my right leg was crazy–I couldn’t bend it all that much. Despite all this I was ready to do the whole 5K around the block thing. My stubborn mind would have won out if it wasn’t for the clinic instructor telling me that it would be best to just head back to the store. I knew she was right, so I headed back. Yeah, I bailed, but it was completely for the right reasons.

So, I’ve missed a week’s worth of runs. I’ve been resting it, and slowly the clicking has died down. I was going to head out on Sunday morning, but the heavy rains kept me indoors. I blamed my knee–I didn’t want my first run on the bad knee to be a cold and miserable one. Fair, right? Well, tonight was my first night out since the injury. Verdict? The knee held up well. There were a few moments where the clicking was prominent. This happened especially on uneven bits of sidewalk. Nonetheless, I feel like I’m on the mend. Tomorrow might be another story with the burden of hill training upon us. That’s all hard on the knees, eh? We’ll see how it goes.