I was running two weeks ago on a trail with a co-worker who is faster than me. I was working hard to keep up, trying to maintain a conversation, and concentrating on scrambling over roots and rocks. Doing all three was beyond my mental capacity, so I tripped over a rock and fell hard on my right knee. It didn’t hurt terribly much when it happened, so I continued on and ran 4 miles. As soon as the endorphins wore off, my knee hurt like hell and just walking up the stairs was pure agony.
I’ve tried running twice since then, and it just hurt too much. I actually came home in tears after one attempt, mostly out of frustration, but also pain.
The knee is just now getting better and I was able to go for a good solid run tonight. It felt invigorating, and no knee pain right now.
One neat thing was that I went on a bike ride the day after falling on my knee. Biking hurt the bad knee, so I focused on doing all the work with my good leg, and letting the bad leg spin freely. It turned out to be a really great isolated leg workout. I always like to figure out how to use pain as a gift.