August 15, 1979 (Wednesday)

From running log:
Ran 4.8 miles on the road at 7:30 pace. BRC run including Todd, Stew, and Mr. Clark. My right knee hurt so much that I had to stop temporarily. What a time for this to happen!

30 years later:
If you are a runner, you know the frustration of having to stop. Here it is 30 years later, and I'm in that situation again, felled by a running injury. Like 1979, my current injury is labeled an "overuse injury"; that is, we runners push and push ourselves until something just can't take it anymore. In 1979 it was my right knee, probably where the iliotibial band attaches on the lateral side. Now, in 2009, it's my piriformis, a small muscle in my left hip that is aggravated and quite painful. Both injuries came on slowly, were at first intermittent, but eventually worsened until running was no longer an option. The real difference, of course, is those 30 years. As you'll see, 30 years ago I could recover from this kind of injury fairly quickly (although like all runners I can keep whining about it for quite some time). These days, recovering from injury is a long and tedious process, all-too-often involving doctors, physical therapists, acupuncturists, and the advice of many fellow runners. Sigh.