The Big Chill

This Christmas my husband got me a few different rolls of KT Tape (he's so romantic-lol). I have only discovered KT tape this year because A. it wasn't widely available here in little-old Nova Scotia and B. I haven't been injured. Now I'm wondering if my hubby has some psychic abilities. I was running along, on my run-commute home after work on Monday, debating whether I should have stayed on the trail or gotten off when I did to catch the bus when BAM. The sidewalk rushed towards me as I caught a toe and tripped. It's kind of funny though, the little flashes of thought that go through your head as you fall. This time it was "Oh damn, my white mittens are going to get all dirty." I mean really. I was suddenly worried about my white mittens?! Ugh. Anyhow. I landed on my suddenly precious white mittens and my left knee. Ouch. I rolled to my left side in pain but got up quickly as I was now being watched by everyone heading home from work in their cars. I checked my jacket-whew! No rips (great job Mountain Hard Wear!). I could feel my left knee stinging but I forced myself to walk to the next bus stop without looking at it because I didn't want to miss my bus (it was FREEZING) and I knew once I looked at it I would feel worse. Arriving at the bus stop I grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it to my knee. Ah, that felt better. I looked at my new tights (THANKS MOM!) and was surprised to find no rips there either (Go Nike!). My kneecap was swelling up though. I grabbed the bus and got home. Since then I've been icing and elevating my knee but the swelling hasn't gone down by very much. I'm pretty sure I really banged up the bursa on top of the knee. I can walk, yes, I think I'm fine, but I am a bit nervous to run on it. So I looked up some KT taping videos and with a bit of patience and practice got a configuration around my knee that helps, a bit. So I'm walking no problem but I don't want to cause more damage if I run. Honestly though, with temperatures at the -15C range I'm not overly eager to spend more than a half hour outside. I've been alternating running short bouts outside and using my treadmill (best $150 I ever spent on kijiji BTW) until this happened. So, should I chill out and wait for the swelling to go away? Should I suck it up and run anyway? Or should I (gasp) go to the ER and get an xray? Decisions, decisions. I'll keep you all posted :-) Until then stay safe and stay warm out there!