Did I leave my kneecaps in Austin?

Running in Austin was great last week. But it seemingly came at a small cost. Because it was always dark, I could never really see where I was planting my feet on the Town Lake trails, which had all kinds of ruts and often changed from dirt to concrete. During one of the runs, I twisted my left knee just a bit.

I decided to take Sunday and Monday off to rest my knee (and taper for the Cowtown Marathon coming up Saturday). My plan was to hit it hard today, take my rested legs for a spin and get of sense of how I should pace for the marathon.

First few meters were like, oh shit. My knee. My knee. Ouch. Ouch. My knee. Ouchy. Oh.

Id never had pain like that during a run. But just as my worry meter started to redline, the pain went away. Instantly, almost. Well, I thought to myself, that's a relief. I guess I just needed a warmup to get all my knee joints lubricated, or something like that.

Back to the run. It was a 7-miler. I did a "warm-up" first mile in about 8:30 and then I ran six miles hard, but not at race pace. My goal was to push the pace but still be able to talk.

Ok, make that still be able to blurt out thoughts.

The stats: 6 miles in 42:07, a 7:01 min/mile pace. I hit the last mile in 6:36. Whoa. Didn't mean to go out that fast. But I'm no worse for the wear. Knee feels great. And more important, my confidence is soaring. That's exactly the kind of run I needed, though I won't be running any 7 min/miles during the marathon, unless I'm feeling really good after Mile 20.