So, this morning I went out on the bike and then came back and decided to have another go at running.  I knew my knee would hurt, but I wanted to figure out exactly where the pain was coming from to see if it might be something soft tissue.  I got back, and with dread, put on the running shoes I last wore in July 2008 for the last serious run I had.  I walked out to the parking lot again, and started going.  No pain.  I went a good three or four minutes in the parking lot and couldn’t believe it: not a thing.  How did this happen?  I will count my blessings.

It could be that biking is just making things tight and that maybe I should run first.  I also really shortened my stride so I didn’t have to bend my knee as much, which probably helped.  It might be that bending it too much is causing the pain in the damaged area, so I might be constrained to shuffling around everywhere.  If my body permits me to go more, maybe that will work itself out.  Regardless, it was the best four minutes I’ve experienced in quite a long time.

Pain is a weird thing.  When you don’t have it, you don’t think about it, but when you’ve got it, it makes things miserable.  I remember my high school coach giving a speech about pain before a workout.  It was during the first few weeks of my freshman year.  He asked how many of us had older siblings in our families.  A lot of guys raised their hands.  He then went on to say that our minds don’t remember pain and if our mothers had remembered the pain of childbirth that many of us who were second or third children would not exist.  The point was to illustrate that though you’ll be suffering through the workout, an hour later, you’ll be fine and you’ll be willing to do it again a few days later.  The same thing goes for injury pain and illness: it’s hard to concieve what it’s like when you’re healthy, but when you’re down, it really sucks.

An interesting study/article points this out: that the little things like pain are what make or break our lives.  People believe that it’s the big things that really make us happy or sad, but it isn’t.  It’s not the new and exciting job, it’s not the move to sunny California, and it’s not winning the lottery that makes your life better.  People who survive natural disasters and other traumatic incidents and those that even lose their vision or hearing don’t report that they feel any less happy than they were previously.  However, those that develop strong ties with family and friends report being happier, while those that develop chronic pain or discomfort never adjust.  It seems that indeed, pain is something that can never be adjusted for, and it’s probably some kind of evolutionary survival mechanism.  Without pain, I would have run even farther on my knee last year and probably to the point where I would become unable to walk.

For now, I’ll get while the getting’s good and try to run in real small increments all the while being on the lookout for any serious problems.