Back on track?

So after missing my 8km race (decided it really wasn't worth it if it would mean I'd be out of luck with the marathon) I gave it a shot running on Monday. I ran 4km without any knee pain (other than the normal running stuff). Felt good to be back to normal. So I am very thankful that I was able to keep myself from trying to run through the pain last week and instead I stopped. It really has taken me years to learn that lesson. I don't know if I can fully express how it feels to not be able to do something you are passionate about (unless you have experienced this before). It sucks! Fortunately I could still swim and I started biking.
Tomorrow (my birthday, by the way) I'm going to attempt a 20km. I haven't run that far in over 2 weeks, but I think when you have a long distance base, as I do, it shouldn't matter. In fact, it might even go better than my other long runs. If I am not dying at the end of the 20km, I will try to run 2 or 4km more to get back to where I should be, or pretty close to it. I'm tentatively planning a marathon in Niagara for mid-June, but it depends on how this all goes. I will really find out in a few weeks if the race begins at 30km. For me it has begun at 22km. So, it's sad for me, but I won't be doing any races this summer unless I decide not to do the marathon. At least we'll save some money! Hopefully I will have more interesting stories to write tomorrow!