The Last Run of the Year

Here it is New Year's Eve and despite being by myself on this celebratory evening for the first time in many years, I've got a smile on my face. Yesterday I took my son to the snow for the first time and it was a blast. Unfortunately for me, my first hike up a hill through fresh powder aggravated a knee strain, which I believe came from over compensating for a recent calf strain! Seeing the look on my son's face as he got ready to take his first sled ride, I knew there was no way I would cut the day short. On the way up he literally choked on his words when he saw snow on the ground for the first time! By the time we got home yesterday evening, I noticed a twinge in my knee that got sharper as night progressed. As is my habit, I jumped on webmd.com to see if they had any advice. I wrapped my knee with an ACE bandage and woke up with no pain.

All day my knee seemed to be fine, so I figured I would do a short run close by to test my legs. As I warmed up the first mile, I felt a little tight, but no pain. When I crossed over Highway 50, I could see the sun setting over the coastal range and I said a few silent words of thanks for how lucky I am to to be a few short feet from the American River Bike Trail. In addition to the bike trail, there are several horse trails adjacent to it that gives the aspiring trail runner plenty of opportunity to get off the pavement. Since I was only planning on doing 4 miles to test my joints I took off at a comfortable pace, but as I got rolling, I felt good like I wanted to finish the year off in style. If I was Ryan Hall of Bernard Lagat, this would be where I would throw down a couple of 4:15 miles, but since I am a 4 1/2 marathoner, the best I could do is hit the two mile mark at 18 minutes even (hey, it's uphill!). I made it back in 16:30, which is a really good pace for me and outside of a little tightness in my injured calf, it felt really good. I am not sure what 2008 will bring, but I can't wait to see.