Still qualifying for Boston: what am I complaining about?

As you might have read in previous posts, I did resume running, training and even racing after a long hiatus due to breaking a meniscus on March 1st. After an arthroscopy on July 1 in Paris, the surgeon prescribed to wait until September. Even if he said that I would get fully back to my intense running eventually, the first days of September were quite discouraging as I could barely jog half a mile without serious knee pain. I continued going to the gym for some strength training, and doing some rowing and cycling. Eventually, I was able to log a few miles at once, only to experience more pain for a few days afterwards. On the 22nd, I decided to go to my local track and see how far I could jog: bingo, it wasn't pretty but I reached 26.2 miles again in 3:42, below the M60-64 requirement of 3:50! Granted, this isn't anything official, plus the total time was about 4:12 as I made a few stops to refill bottles, cool down as it was still warm, and check my phone. No pressure!

At the end of September I logged two runs of 20 and 15.5 miles respectively. The pain subsided so I stayed in the 10-15K range daily after that.

In October, I ran my first race, a road half marathon. The knee was ok during the race, I was more limited by the breathing while trying to maintain a 7 min/mile pace. Knee pain again for the following few days so I took the week off.

Back in California, I went back to the track on October 20th for a 3:31:47 training marathon: the last 10 miles were painful but progress! Followed by my second race of the season, a trail half marathon this time.

November 3, 3:24:52: even a better training marathon, although even more knee pain the next day...

And this Sunday, November 10, 3:17:11! I'm prouder of this one because the elapsed time is less than a minute over, 3:17:57, so even more legit. Albeit still unofficial of course. A few other encouraging stats:

• Average pace: 7:31
• Average cadence: 187 (Garmin) - 185 (Coros)
• Average stride length: 1.15 meters (still far from my optimal marathon 1.30m-average stride of 15 years ago, but improving)
• Slightly negative split by a few seconds
• First and last mile at 8:15 (running through the neighborhood), all other miles under 8 otherwise, with a few under 7:30.

Nice trend even with the horizontal axis not at scale.

And so... what am I still complaining about when many work so hard all their running life to qualify for Boston? Well, it's the persisting pain which makes me wonder how hard and long I can really go. Putting the miles in seem so important both mentally and physically: I'm probably not enough expert, I still haven't found a way to strengthen my legs as much as when running. Not to mention the level of energy. But, am I damaging the meniscus fracture/tear more?

Now, is pain even an excuse? When I hear about other runners who share that they have been running in pain for many years, including with bone on bone articulations, it seems like I shouldn't complain indeed...

In August, Coros' marathon time prediction was 3:09. It is now down to 3:11. I still need to work on the glutes --well, always as a matter of fact-- but I believe the strength training is paying off. And I do see a path to beating these Coros predictions eventually, in good race conditions. But no rush, even with many steps at a time... And, yes, let me appreciate these improvements!

Run Happy as Brooks' tagline says! Speaking of which, still hot on my favorite running partners: Brooks, Ultimate Direction, S!Caps, VespaPower and GU Energy (disclosure: I still receive some discount on the last 2 brands).