22.4 miles today
329.2 miles total
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Woke up from the best sleep I’ve had on trail! Felt completely rested and ready for the day. I did my normal routine of changing into my hiking clothes and packing everything up inside while inside my tent (you know, staying in the warmth as long as possible). Then I went to step out of the tent and nearly collapsed from a sharp pain in my knee ?
Trying not to panic (knee injuries take a lot of people off trail), I decided to walk in it for a mile to see if it would work itself out… It didn’t. Then I remembered I have one of those knee compression sleeve things (thanks mom!). So I put that on hoping it would alleviate enough of the person so I could walk… it didn’t. Apparently I’ve lost some weight because it was too big and therefore it wasn’t compressing anything.
Five miles in I decided to try a different tactic. I essentially rolled the compression sleeve into more of a band and squeezed it up above my knee to see if that would do anything. And I took 2 Excedrin (for the caffeine boost and pain reliever). And what do you know, it worked enough for me to hike with a slight like the rest of the day ?
Luckily most of the hike today was road walking with lower grade inclines, which is boring, but helpful for the knee. But it was also mostly exposed in the blazing sun, so yeah, by mid-day I was over it and ready to be done! ?
I still got my miles in, but I can’t say it was very much fun.
Once I got to camp I rolled out my muscles for like 30 minutes focusing on the right leg and all the muscles affecting my knee. Hopefully that works for the next two days until I get into town and rest ?
