Knee Probs

My knees are being such jerks.

All I want to do is get back into shape, and here they are actin fools. Rude. I don't know if it's an IT band issue, or what, but that's what I suspect. Who knew someone so out of shape could get an OVERUSE injury? This is probably the only time in my life I will ever have a problem with exercising TOO much.

I took both Sunday and Monday off from the gym, so this morning I rolled out of bed excited to head that way. (Not sure who I am, but ya know.) I figured I'd do elliptical without a whole lot of resistance. Just get them limbered up, etc etc. I did 30 minutes, and my knees felt... weird. Not painful, just not normal. After that, I did 15 minutes on the sit-back stationary bike. Then, I foam rolled. Considering, I didn't know what the heck I was doing, I'm impressed I managed to figure it out with minimal stupidage.

More than anything, I just want to keep up my habit of going to the gym and focusing on fitness. Because when I get out of that mode? Bring on the junk food, cause I'm leaving this wagon altogether.

So, like I said, my knees are jerks.

Birthday Weekend

I had a great birthday weekend.

My birthday was yesterday (Sunday), but we basically made the whole weekend a celebration of sorts. On Saturday, we sort of went for a run (more on that in a bit), went to an AMAZING dinner, chilled at Barnes n Noble, and went on a late night donut run. Yesterday (my true birthday), I had a massage, hung out at the Farmer's Market, and then we ran errands together. Low key, but just the way I like it.

I didn't spend my time taking a lot of pictures (which is ironic, since one of my bday gifts was a new lens for my Nikon), but I did snap a few with my iphone.

So when we started out on our run Saturday morning, my knees were REALLY tight. I had noticed this on a previous run, but then, they had loosened up, so I didn't think too much of it. I was having such a hard time running that we stopped at this amazing tree (trees?) at a nearby park to stretch.

While stretching, we discovered that this tree isn't used just for stretching. (And, we promptly bathed in disinfectant when we arrived back home.)

Unfortunately, nothing I did limbered up my knees and finally, the tightness graduated to shooting pain. We ended up walking back home and by the time we made it back, I was limping (favoring my left knee, though both hurt). I immediately iced, played on my ipad, and sat around feeling angry over my knees.

:( So. Needless to say, now that I'm finally motivated to work out, the last thing I need is an injury. I took off exercise yesterday and didn't hit the gym this morning either. I'm super bummed, but I'm pretty sure this is an overuse thing, so resting is necessary. boo.

After our failed run, we hung out and eventually got dressed to go out on the town. We had reservations at the Portland City Grill, a fantastic restaurant 30 stories up in downtown Portland. The views from the restaurant:

It was pretty amazing. The food was divine, they decorated our table with little "happy birthday" confetti, and we got a free dessert complete with a candle.

Sunday was a massage, farmer's market, and errands. None pictured. All amazing.

Huzzah! I'm 31!