Will running make it worse?

That’s the standard for whether pain justifies skipping a run. My knees hurt a bit, like they’ve done before when I resumed running after a long hiatus. There is dull pain in the meat at the inside of the knee cap on both knees, and in the left there is a screaming pain below the kneecap when I lift the bent leg while sitting to put a shoe on. Sometimes. It’s kind of unpredictable.

The dull pain was a little more noticeable this morning than it has been, and for that reason I considered giving the knees a rest today. But I ran anyway—an easy run, with walk breaks. The pain did not worsen. If anything it grew less as I loosened up. Now it’s back as I sit bent-legged at my desk, but no worse than it was earlier.

I have tended to err on the side of caution. Discretion is the better part of valor, and all that. Now, especially, there’s no good reason to risk injury. But I’m at that stage in my comeback where I’m impatient with excuses. I’ve missed far too many turns with flimsy ones. I’m afraid if I take off one day I’ll fall behind, and worse, I’ll fall away again, break the spell. I know how those misses can snowball.

I have tended to err on the side of self-indulgence, in short, and I don’t want to do that anymore. But I also don’t want to be a fool and get hurt.