the mystery of my knee

Yesterday when I walked to church, my right knee hurt for the first half of the walk - not so much that it made me limp, but enough that I winced at every impact.  I had fallen while jogging on my second run last week, but had landed on my LEFT knee, and though it was scraped up and a bit bruised, that one was all very superficial and had no impact on my joints, etc.  The pain in my right knee caught my attention yesterday, but I just shrugged it off.  I had forgotten to stretch before I left - maybe that was it.  And then there is the simple fact that I've been overweight for more than 20 years, which means movement sometimes brings pain.  My knee eventually stopped hurting and I put it behind me as just a function of my age/weight/fitness level/etc.

My morning run starts out down the hall, out the side door, across the driveway, and then there is a very steep hill in the yard that  have to climb to get to the not-quite-as-steep, but still very steep hill that is the street.  I walk until I get to the top (that's my "brisk walking warmup") and then, already out of breath, I jog.  


But this morning when I got to the very steep grassy hill, my right knee talked again.  LOUD.  I just flat couldn't walk up on it.  I stopped for a minute and considered going back inside and skipping the run...after all, I don't want to permanently damage the only knees I have.  But in the end, I tried turning around and backing up the hill (just the yard part), and that removed the pain.  The street, as I said, isn't as steep, and I was able to do that part going forward without pain, and then my run, too, was without pain.  


So I don't quite know what to make of my right knee right now, but for today I am grateful to have found a way around it.  Really don't want to get sidelined at this point.