The Station Platform

Just to give you a brief bio on myself; I am 52 years old, and have been running regularly since 2001. I have run 9 marathons, including 4 NYC and 2 Boston. MY marathon PR is 3:33:12, which I did in the 2006 NYC marathon. That finish got me into the 2007 and 2008 Boston marathons.
My best Boston is 3:57:28. I have not done much running since Boston due to knee pain.
The knee pain is the reason I am "sidetracked", just like those lonesome freight trains I see on the sidings in my town, Teaneck New Jersey.

Oddly enough, the knee pain didn't start immediately after the Boston marathon, or any other race or run. It began after I did some DIY electrical work in my house. I was doing a lot of bending and kneeling, and it appears that was the recipe for pain.
While the pain has never been bad, it is enough to keep me from running long distances.

I went to see an orthopedic surgeon last week, and learned that aside from normal wear of the knee joints, I don't have anything wrong. The doctor advised me to do my running on the rubberized track, and to avoid activity that requires deep knee bending and / or kneeling.
In a way, that's a blessing. I have an excuse not to work on the many projects I have going at home.

I really miss the races. They provide incentive to get out for the boring training runs. I am still hoping that I will be able to run one of the NYRR December races in the park, but I need to get in more mileage. I hate the thought of running 40 times around the track, but I'm going to try. With my iPod, at least I have something to take my mind off of the round & round boredom.

I have found that running on the rubberized track at Teaneck High School really helps my knees. I don't usually have any pain during or after a 5 mile run at about 8:30 pace.
I cannot say that about running in the local park on asphalt. I usually start to have some pain after about 3 miles.

Despite being warned that running on concrete sidewalks is the worst thing a runner can do to his/her body, I did it for many years while living in Westwood. If I didn't want to run on the track, I had to run the sidewalks, because I ran mostly at night, and the roads are too heavily traveled to risk running on the road.
In September 2006, I joined a local health club, and started running on the treadmill. I did lots of speed and hills, and I believe that is what got me my PR in NYC and my BQ, and it got me off the hard sidewalks.

My immediate plans are to gradually work up my mileage until I can run 10 miles on the track without pain. Once I can do that, I'll try running a road race (probably a 10K), and take it from there.

Next stop: The NYC Marathon - from the sidelines. I am a spectator this time around.