Five And Five :: Running & Wall Sitting

This finally happened on Sunday afternoon! After 26+ months of having patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and barely being able to run a mile, I finally ran five miles with no pain.

Accomplishing this was on my list of goals for this year and it didn't seem like it'd happen, but it did and it felt so good!!!


I'm convinced this is all thanks to the wall sits I've been doing pretty religiously. Coincidentally I'm also at five for those too!

I finished up running at the north end of Central Park and it was so bright and beautiful there. (Also how is a December day in NYC?!)

And this is my happy (post run) face!

To risk sounding 135% sappy, I've felt a little lost the past two years without being able to run. When I started running in high school it quickly became one of my favorite activities. It also became my main coping mechanism for dealing with stress and any other bad feelings and was actually a large part of my identity too.

While PFPS isn't too painful outside of running, it's incredibly frustrating. PFPS doesn't heal well on it's own, but it doesn't exact treatment protocols or a surgical fix either. After biking hundreds of miles, going to PT, switching sneakers, taking turmeric and glucosamine supplements, and doing other exercises and getting zero signs of improvement I didn't know what else to do and felt pretty hopeless until recently.

I know that I still have a ways to go and I know that I'll still have some bad days where my knee feels off, but I feel so relieved that I'm finally getting somewhere.