I had originally signed up for the full marathon in early January, but on an 18 mile run on February 27'th, had been hit with knee pain due to ITBS. This limited my training, although I tried to train through it. I got in 14 mi and 16 mi runs with out too much trouble, but a horrible 18 miler (the last 3 were run/walk and painful) in early April, forced me to drop down to the half marathon. A 10 k three weeks ago (43:39) went well, with no major setback, and I felt I was ready to go.

I wanted to do 7:20 pace for the first 5 mi, then 7:45 for miles 6-8, 7:35 for mi 9-10, 7:05 for 11-12, and 7:00 for 13. I should have been in corral A, but when I dropped down to the HM from the Full, they didn't upgrade my corral. So I started at the front of the B corral, but still had problems getting aroung slower runners for the first mile. The pace the first 1/2 mi was over 8:00, but as things opened up, I was able to pick it up and completed the first mile in 7:27, just 7 seconds off where I wanted to be. I kept up the accelerated pace the second mile and did it in 6:55. Then I settled in the next four miles at close to the 7:20 pace I wanted. I felt a little twinge in the right knee (ITBS) right at mile 4, and thought I may run into a problem later. Running down 7'th street was great again, the cheering crowds, and seeing Jenny and Sam was great. I was really feeling good and running strong at this point at the end of mile 6 I was on pace for a 1:36:46 finish (would have been 13'th in AG). As soon as I started up the hill I felt the ITBS take hold and knew I was in trouble. I managed to run the whole hill in a gradually slowing pace as the knee pain set in, but was forced to start walking at the end of mile 8. The realization set in that this race was over for me, and my new goal was to finish without doing any more damage than was necessary to my eventual recovery. I alertnated a slow jog with walking the last five miles. It was depressing getting passed by upwards of 1500 runners. I chugged a beer that was offered by some young guys spectating and got a good cheer for that. Saw Sam and Jen at mile 11.5. They were pretty worried at that point that I hadn't come by yet. Took a couple pictures and then set off again. I at least was able to bring it in under 2 hours.

The ITBS is really disappointing, as I thought it was under control and wouldn't give me any problems in a half. I was really kind of regreting dropping down from the full beforehand. It would have been a real problem if I had tried it. I would have had to choose between a DNF and doing big damage to the body and extending my rehabilitation time.

I'd take extended time off after the initial ITBS injury and not worry about the race schedule. Not try to train through and continually reaggravate the ITBS. Drop out of the Pig and heal up. I never learn. Now I'm facing several months off. @#$%

Limped to the car in pain.


Injury


The Flying Pig weekend is my favorite weekend of the year. Jenny and Kathy did the 10k. Jenny did great! Proud of her. She was doing 9 min miles untill her leg pain slowed her down the last 2. Kathy came in from Los Angeles and loved it. Wants to come back next year.