Impressions of an Impromptu marathoner -- Epilogue listen to your body.

The first two miles were pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I was on the beach. At mile three I noticed a slight pain on the outside and just below my left knee. I thought, "Oh I'm still cold. Another mile or two and it will work itself out."

By mile four, the pain had worsened and was accompanied by a new pain behind my right knee. I figure I only had two miles to the turn around point, so I pressed on. Once I got to Dana Point I could stretch and the run back would be no problem.

Living at 4,500 feet makes oxygen very plentiful to the lungs at sea level. I felt great as far as my breathing went. But that nagging pain was getting worse and I felt myself beginning to favor my left leg more and the extra strain in my right leg put more pressure on the pain behind my right knee.

Finally I arrived at the Dana Point Marina. I stopped my timer, stretched, got a drink of water from the fountain, and headed back for the San Clemente Pier.

In less than a mile I began hobbling. The left knee pain was so intense I couldn't maintain a normal gate. What I needed was a foam roller to roll out the IT band on my outer thigh and the anterior tibialis below my knee. Massaging the muscles wasn't getting the job done.

Five miles to go and an almost complete inability to run left me feeling pretty discouraged. I knew the return trip would take a while.

I tried a strategy of running four minutes and walking four minutes. The pain was immediate. If I could just grit my teeth and push through the pain, I could walk again in four minutes. I ran for what felt like four minutes and then looked at my watch. Only one minute had passed. Dejected I began walking again. I managed a few bouts of four minute running and four minute walking, but in the end I was reduced to the walking only part of my plan.

Two and a half hours later I limped back to the pier. My wife and kids were already playing on the beach. "Are you hurt?" my wife asked in a tone of "You better not mess our vacation by being injured." I tried my best not to limp but couldn't hide it.

"I'm okay," I whimpered. "I just need to stretch out. I need a foam roller."

As luck would have it, I found a foam roller at a local kettlebell training gym two days later. The lady let me use it and then was nice enough to sell it to me. She could have charged me $100 for the $10 piece of foam and I would have gladly paid for it. There was no separating me from my new found security blanket. After a couple of intense roll out sessions, my legs felt much better.

So my lessons are I'm not an uber-freak running stud like I thought, and I gotta take care of my body, always.

My vacations tend to bring out the worst in my dietary eating and my muscles tighten up when I eat sugary, refined, and processed products. I'm finally getting back on track today after a few days of mindless whatever eating, and my body is bouncing back. I've learned it's much easier if I can catch myself in a downward eating spiral rather than let it go on for more than a few days.

Oh yeah, and consistency over binge eating and exercising always win the day (and month and years).