Today is the day!

My friends will be here to pick me up at 12:30 today. Then we are driving to Grand Portage, where we will spend the night, and we take the ferry to Isle Royale on Monday morning.

I tried to take it kind of easy with my exercise this past week - Monday was a bike ride (of course it was 18 miles or so) but I always find that rather easy and fun. Easier than running, that is. Wednesday, before book club I was able to get home early and exercise for about 45 minutes on the NordicTrack.

And Saturday, I went out for a long, easy run with my friend. Long is the key word... we did somewehere around 12 miles. And to tell you the truth, for the most part, it was great. We chatted, and relaxed into the run, and ran at a very comfortable pace. From my figuring (minus the pit stop along the way) I clocked us at the 6-mile turnaround point at about an hour and two minutes. And yes, we were running and talking at that pace!

But then... my knee started giving me some trouble. The knee that has not given me trouble in the past... so we stretched a bit, and kept going. And it kept hurting, so I walked a bit, and it stopped hurting. Ran a bit more, and when there was less than a mile left, I walked, and it didn't hurt walking, so I figured I did not injure myself before I was to go hiking 50 miles in a week.

Yeah - it hurt most of yesterday after I got home. I have been taking ibuprofin, and resting it, and wearing a knee brace. And it feels better than it did yesterday, but still a little twinge here and there. But it still hurts some. At least I still have about 24 hours to recover before we start hiking. I am packing the Ibuprofin and the knee brace.

So I am all packed, and ready to go, and pretty much nervous as hell.

Wish me luck!
~a