Crossing the finish line at today’s Goblin Gallop 5K. I did some intervals during the race.

This morning I finished my 3rd 5K of the year – The Goblin Gallop. I would love to say all went well, but alas, it did not. I completely forgot my belt to hold my iPhone (I must listen to music while walking!) and my water bottle. Oh well, I have hands.

No, the real damage came shortly after Mile 1. For some strange reason, I decided to run during the first mile.  Basically I walked for one minute and ran for 30 seconds for the mile. I felt great. Then I hit Mile 2 and decided to walk during the incline and see how I felt after. It was during the incline my knee started feeling sore and tight.

I kept moving and thought walking at a slower pace might help. It didn’t.

After limping for about 100 feet and thinking about calling the hubby to pick me up, I decided to “suck it up” and start moving. So I picked up my pace and that seemed to do the trick. During the last half of Mile 2, I started the intervals again.

Why? I just felt like it. But when I ran, my knee felt great.

Exhausted at Mile 3, I stopped the intervals. I needed to catch my breath. Thankfully, the rest of the course was downhill.

My knee seemed fine. No pain, no soreness — awesome!

About a quarter-mile from the finish line, I decided to try intervals again. My legs felt like lead. They were so heavy. But I made it across the finish line, exhausted and elated.

I met up with my hubby and we started for the car. At that point, the soreness and tightness came back. Perfect.

My evil cat decided to take pity on me as I convalesced with an ice pack on my knee and the leg raised. Not to fear, he bit me a moment later – he can’t show too much sympathy after all!

On the drive back to our humble little love shack I noticed my knee was swelling. I needed ice.

I got home, downed a protein shake (low-carb!), knocked back some ibuprofen, grabbed the ice pack and sat down.   A moment later my hubby shoved a pillow under my knee to elevate it.

It’s 7 hours later and my knee is swollen, stiff and sore. Thankfully it’s not as painful as it was when I hurt it about 7 weeks ago.

So the moral of the this tale is, I need to drop more pounds before I try running again.

And maybe it’s time to pull the bike out of the shed.

Oh, and congrats to my friend Z who ran in the Marine Corps Marathon today for the first time.  She is a machine!