The sun sets on the Trinity Trail after my 1-mile run.

When your last run was 13.1 miles, 1 mile sounds easy. This should be a breeze, I thought, as I did my 5-minute warm-up at the Trinity Trail. It felt good to be on the trail, but my arch nemesis, aka my right knee, had me worried.

Since completing my first half marathon in March (with a time of 2:12!), my knee has been a wreck. Apparently, continuing to run long miles with runner’s knee is not the best idea. I took the summer off to heal and focus on cross-training. I have not so much as run across the street in that time. A couple of weeks ago, while mountain biking, my knee started to act up.

Still, living without running is not an option. Monday was the first training day in my 10-weeks-to-10K plan, and a 1-mile run had two purposes: to test the knee and to ease back into running. I remember in the past how hard that first mile has been. In fact, I’m not a fan of the first 3. I was so worried that I had lost all of that hard work while waiting for my knee to recover.

I started off with a slow jog, and my knee felt tight but strong. The next thing I knew, the run was over. I couldn’t believe I ran the whole way! Also, I have never been so excited to run 1 mile. I guess that goes to show that hard work pays off a lot longer than you think. I’m still going to take it easy the next few weeks, but I have my eye on you, Turkey Trot.