Race report: River Ness 10k

I know, I know.  Long time, no blog.  I've been coping not too gracefully with a knee thing for the past month and a half - NOT a running injury, I hasten to add, but one that has been exacerbated by my refusal to stop running.  The physio thinks that I have a minor tear of the cartilage of my left knee, caused by crouching down too quickly and deeply; my old and dried out cartilage apparently couldn't cope with the sudden stress of normal movement.  Yay for incipient old age.

Not overreacting at all.

Anyway, by the time of today's River Ness 10k, I had cut out speed work, cut back to running only twice/week (keeping one of those runs as a very slow long run), cut out running down hills, and added biscuits and cupcakes back into my diet as a consolation prize for limping around the house with a knee that refused to bend.  Oh, I was feeling soooo sorry for myself.  I sent a self-pitying email to the very patient and supportive Cathy, bemoaning my physical state and floating the idea that I should just give up on the 10k and the HM.  My running days were over; oh, woe was me.

Oops.  How embarrassing. 

I dragged myself and my cold (yep, more feeling sorry for myself) to the start line this morning and, after queuing up for the obligatory last-minute pee (whose bright idea was it, anyway, to situate the men's communal urinals so that everyone in the queue had a good view of the men using the facilities?  Not a sight that I really want to see again...) and squeezing myself into the 1hr - 1hr 30min section of the waiting runners, prepared myself for a slog of a run.

Except, it wasn't a slog at all.  My knee performed admirably - just a couple of slight twinges on some of the early downhill sections and a slight feeling of stiffness towards the end but, otherwise, my legs felt great.  My cold didn't seem to interfere; I didn't need to stop to sneeze or to blow my nose, although a bit of surreptitious wiping was called for, and I didn't have a coughing fit until after the finish line.  Despite being very aware of how much cardio I've lost in the past month, I really did feel fine for all except the last half-mile, when I knew that I wasn't going to make it in under an hour and had an almighty 'FFS, what's the point of pushing myself then?' reaction.  I had to give myself a stern talking to in order to keep running but at least I didn't do the Walk of Sulkiness like I did in Reykjavik.

I finished in 1:01:25ish (official times are out tomorrow).  I was temporarily gutted at not being under an hour but, upon reflection, I'm satisfied with this.  Especially as, almost 6 hours later, my knee still feels only a bit stiff.

So, it looks like the Aviemore HM is back on!  I have no idea what time I'll finish in but I WILL finish, and with a smile on my face.  This will be the last race in my Year of Fun Running, and I want to enjoy every minute.