And The I-T Band Played On...

And I must say, it was hard to face the music.

I started to feel the fire in my knees during the last five miles of the marathon, only to be accompanied by the sensation of being knifed in my left calf muscle. Thinking this may just be good old fashioned fatigue having just run 21 miles, I pressed on through the pain and raced to the finish line.

My legs were sore and my knees were stiff, but three days after the marathon I felt like a champ. I thought I would ease in to my post-race routine by skipping the running and warming up with a core class my friends just started taking. 60 minutes of pure hell, perspiration, and abdominal punishment did not replace, but rather surpassed any discomfort previously noted, but I loved it and felt stronger than ever.

Now that one week had passed, I was excited to set out for a run with Gale this morning. We barely covered one mile before I felt intense pain along the outsides of both knees and under the knee caps. From Gale sharing her personal experience and consulting several articles, I am sure I have the ever so common I-T band running injury. Not to be ignored.

The recovery is most promising. The recommendations are rest, stretching, icing, massage, vitamin C, and as a last resort, anti-inflammatory medications. When running resumes it is important to run on even surfaces and to start slowly.

Now what? I'm scared to go back to that core class.