Damn.

Well, that sucks. There I was, running along, happy to be hydrated (at least more so than last week, where I got a calf cramp). This was a nine-mile optional run. No big deal. Or so I thought.

Headed up Riverside to 35, over the bridge, and back West on the other side. That’s a very pretty stretch of trail, especially going that way. Everything was fine. Up to MoPac, out across at Deep Eddy and over towards the boat dock.

That’s when things started to go wrong.

About half-way there I noticed that I was really feeling the road grade - where it curves off to the side for drainage. This was a little odd, since I’ve never noticed it before along that particular stretch, and its one of my favorites. Anyway, I made it along to the docks okay, still at the front of the (reduced for the holidays) pack, and did some stretching at the other end. When we headed back, I was feeling pretty unhappy. Running at the back of the pack, and not feeling particularly chipper. My right thigh was aching, as was the outside of my right knee - and every step was making it worse.

I tried increasing my cadence, but that didn’t help since it just increased the number of impacts. Tried stretching out my stride, but that hurt too. Eventually, I just gave up and jogged in at the back of the pack. Asked Anthony for some stretching advice, and massaged the heck out of my leg. It started to feel better, but when we headed back across the footbridge it got much worse, quickly. By the end of the bridge, I was really hurting and decided to walk in the last two miles.

Walking felt pretty good. I soon realized that it was both the bending action and the impact that hurt. Every now and then I’d try to run, but I had to stop after about ten steps. This was really not how I wanted to end my run. Two long, annoying miles later, and I was back at RunTex.

So, what’s the verdict? It looks like I’ve managed to damage my I.T. band. This is bad news. Checking Running for Dummies in a book store, the one thing that it said was that you shouldn’t train through an I.T. band injury. Hmm. I’m getting pretty concerned about the 30K two weeks from now. I’m already registered for the race down in Buda, and still intend to run in it - somehow. I’m also a little worried about the fact that if I miss too much time right now, it can seriously impact my marathon asperations.

So, anyway, I found my I.T. band. And I really wish that I hadn’t.

Calories burned: about 1,300
Miles remaining: 157.8

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