How Do You 10K?

"How do you 10K?  That is the question that the television keeps asking.  The goal is to get more people to sign up for the Monument Avenue 10K, a totally fun race with 40,000 of your closest friends.  My answer this year to that question, apparently, is "I don't!"  And that feels strange, and a bit sad.

I've participated in eight straight Monument Avenue 10K's.  Unless I have a change of heart, and even more importantly, a change of knee, my streak will end this year.  My left knee continues with its sore area and I am not running.  I could walk it, of course - I routinely walk 4 or 5 miles at a good clip, so 6.2 is not that big of a stretch.  But I don't want to pay $30 or $40 to walk 10K.  If I am going to do it, I want to go for a PR - which is totally out of the question, since I am not running and have hardly at all, actually, since last year's 10K the end of March.

I have decisions to make - do TNT in 2013, my sixth time?  If so, do I walk?  Run? Cycle? Tri?  If I run am I risking more injury?  Should I try another doctor and get a good look at the knee?  I've been more consistent with the PT exercises, but not religious about them.  If I were religious would it do the trick?  Or is something wrong that is just not going to get better?

I have more questions than answers right now.  But as to the question: "How do you 10K?", my answer, reluctantly, is "In the spring 2013, I don't."  But it feels sad to answer that way.