Runner’s Knee and My Upcoming Marathon

I wanted to put a post together talking about my experience with runner’s knee.

It is now Tuesday and I am running the Chicago marathon on Sunday. This will be my first marathon.

A few weeks ago I came down with runners knee at about mile 20 of a 22 mile run.

I had run 2 other 20 mile runs with zero pain.

And now I am consistently getting pain in my knee. Although, last week I ran 8.5 miles one day and 4.5 miles with no pain. But they felt so good that I ran the 4.5 mile run too fast. I think that brought back the pain.

There seem to be a lot of great resources on the internet for this topic. But there are still a lot of different views. For what it’s worth, this is what I’m doing.

I’m doing leg lift exercises on a machine at the gym. I’m icing the knee as often as possible. I’m doing an exercise where I sit on the floor with my back against the couch, a pillow under my leg and then tighten my thigh and lift my foot off the floor. I’m taking Advil for anti-inflammation. Although, my wife has an anti-inflammatory drug that I might take the next few days.

I’m not going to run any more this week. I ran today about 4 miles with some walking in the middle. The pain didn’t come back during today’s run. But I felt that if I had run much more it would have.

I ran a half marathon 2 weeks ago. The pain was bad at mile 8,9,10. But went away at mile 12.

I’m not clear if I am doing damage with this or not. I’ve seen people recommend a cortisone shot. Others seem to think that I could be causing long-term damage.

Right or wrong, I’m going to run this marathon. I will push through this race as long as I’m able to stand.

I have no races planned after this race. So, I am willing to take a long break to let my knee rest.

I bought a Dr. Scholls insert that is supposed to relieve knee pain. My shoe guy told me that my foot doesn’t need that. He said my foot has the opposite problem. I’m conflicted about that advice. I think the insert worked.

I also bought a new pair of shoes this week that I ran my 4 miles on today. I think my old shoes were getting squishy. I’m worried I only have 4 miles on these shoes. But I think a new shoe will help.

So, I’m not running any more this week, praying my shoes don’t cause any unforeseen blisters. Continue my strength training through Friday. I’ll do none on Saturday.

I’m icing all week long.

I’m really torn about these inserts. As I write this, I’m thinking I’ll put them in.

Did I mention that I have a patella band? I’m not really sure if it’s helping or not. I tried taping the top of my knee today. I don’t know if that helped or not. I guess it didn’t hurt. I think I will do that on Sunday.

My training was going so incredibly well. This runner’s knee was not in my plans. But I guess it makes the process more interesting. It’s been a real psychological challenge. I just wasn’t ready for this. I didn’t have a plan.

But now I’ve got a plan.

…just those inserts. I’m about 65% in favor of using them.

I’ll follow up with how my marathon went next week.