A Poem to Mrs. IT Band

Oh Dear Mrs.  IT Band

Oh dear Mrs. IT Band,

You never liked when I ran.

You told me pretty loudly,

How running long distances made you rowdy.

I tried to be very nice,

And give you lots of ice.

But dear old Mrs. IT Band,

You were still never a fan.

For a while you went away,

And let me play.

But now you want to show me whose boss,

And put up a fight like Randy Moss.

I do not like to play your games,

I do not have to time and this is pretty lame.

So dear Mrs. IT,

Please calm down and come around!

Do you sense a theme here? Yup, my wonderful Mrs. IT Band has come out to play.  I am not excited to see my old friend.  We have spent many races and training runs fighting together and unfortunately, she usually wins.  Back in 2009, I suffered from IT Band pain and then again in 2011.  It was not pretty....

All smiles?

Thursday morning after my treadmill run I felt a ping at the top of my hip.  I knew that ping.  It felt tight.  It felt like Mrs. IT Band wanted to come out and play.  I have been rocking compression gear, ice, Aleve, and foam rolling ever since.  I even tried KT Tape, but oddly enough that seemed to make it worse.  I have been getting up and stretching as much as possible.  It is not crazy painful (although I have not tried running on it yet), it just feels tight.  Once I get up and move around and stretch it, it loosens up, but I just don't know what to think or frankly what to do (even though I have been here twice before).  Part of me believes I am making a mountain out of a mole hill and the other part is screaming at me to WATCH OUT (Mrs. IT Band can be very very sneaky).

Becoming Best of Friends with My Foam Roller

Tomorrow I have 12 miles on tap.  I want to go outside.  I know my PT would say go for it.  He would not stop me in the least as seen from the past two rounds of IT Band Pain.  He mainly just has me power through it, work through the exercises, and move on and I do move on eventually...

The PT & I one week later after the crying picture (see above). Came back to place 3rd in my age group for a 5-miler - powering through..

But I am still unsure about tomorrow morning - do I go outside and enjoy the frigid air with my awesome running buddy, do I hit the treadmill, do I do nothing?

I hate being in these positions and cannot believe I am here again.  I am hoping that this is just a fluke.  I am hoping to ride the wave.  But it never seems to be that simple for me.

Welp, that is it tonight?  All you wonderful runners out there I could use some good running advice!