August 10, 1979 (Friday)

From running log:
Ran about 3 miles at 7:35 pace on the roads near Devil's Lake with MikeW and Nellie. Started out in the hot sun, but then a thunderstorm drenched us. My right knee pain is getting worse. It hinders my every move. Why? What is it? How did it happen? Frustrating! Theories: unstable heel running on sand recently, or impact while tired, or running on crowned roads too often.

30 years later:
My worry over getting injured during my senior year was palpable to me then. I had been injured in some significant way for every other running season during high school. As a freshman, I'd developed mononucleosis during the track season, and my spleen swelled up to the size of a football - the Dr. put me on bed rest, ending the season. As a sophomore, I'd battled foot problems and Osgood-Schlatter's Sydrome, which sometimes made running a very painful activity. My junior year, cross country was ended by a terrible chest cold, and my track season was interrupted by a strain of my sartorius, which had limited me to some swimming and pool running until just before the conference championships.

I was determined to make it through my senior year without injury, and here I was with a very sore knee. The pain was on the outside of the knee, probably where the ITB connects. I was at a loss as far as what to do about it, and had several theories, as you can see above. The only one that might make sense now in retrospect is the one about running on crowned roads. Road beds are sloped from the center to outside (curb) edges to help with water drainage. I'd done a lot of running on the left side of roads with fairly steep crowns. That could have been part of the irritation. ITB syndrome is also indicative of a need to stretch more, especially the hips and the ITB itself.

I was quite worried about a serious injury spoiling yet another running season.