Summer Roundup trail run revisted

July 12th was when this 12K trail took place.  2 days after it I had my knee scoped (torn meniscus).  I did the race only because it was part of a series (Triple Crown).  In hindsight it wasn't that smart - but I have never been accused of being the smartest guy in the room. 

On race day I started at the very back of the crowd, knee all bandaged up, and hobbled my way through and completed it.  It was my most frustrating race I have ever been in.  Mostly because the year before I had finished just under 64 mins and this year I had dreams of beating 60.

That wasn't possible with the knee issues this year.  I thought I might feel good about myself if I just finished it, knowing that it would be just an achievement to finish.  I finished and was just plain grumpy - like someone had stole my cookies.

Last night I revisited the course, while #12 was at his soccer practice just down the street.  A mile into it, when I knew I had started out too fast - but could care less as I was bent on revenge - I felt a sharp needle like pain just above my sock line / lower calf.  I slowed and looked down and a bee had just stung me.  I didn't see the bee but the stinger was hanging there.  Owwww.

I was smart enough to brush it off rather then grab at it to push further poison or whatever it is into my leg.  But still it hurt - like someone had stole my cookies and then stabbed me in the leg so I couldn't chase them.

So the option to stop was there, I have only been stung a few times in my life, was confident I am not allergic to bee stings - although I am allergic to sharp stinging pains.

All this happened within the span of less than a minute and really I didn't spend too much time deciding what to do.  I continued on with my run.  It was uncomfortable, occasional squirts of needle like pain at times were more annoying than anything.

Anyway, about 1900' feet of climbing up and back later I crossed the finish 21 minutes faster than when I had back in July.  It was still 5 or so minutes slower than my kid had run that day, but 70 minutes was enough to make me satisfied.

I'd like to do that a few more times before winter (without a bee sting), although the downhills are not not fun on the knees - so I will be careful not to do it too often. 

I have a few more "revenge" revisiting runs I would like to do this year - runs / races that I either missed or was not able to do at full capacity due to the knee.  

May not happen as I still am nowhere near fully fit, I have absolutely no speed.  I do seem to have a decent endurance base and can take on hills (uphill) okay.   It doesn't take me too long to remind myself to just "enjoy running - not everything is a race".  It is nice however to get "revenge" - even if it does hurt a bit.