dykstraNet

Well, my hopes of running the Chicago Marathon are going to go unfulfilled this year. It seems I overtrained and gave myself the classic runners injury. I started to feel pain on the side of my right knee 5 or 6 miles into my runs. After some troubleshooting with my fellow runner and friend Dan, I determined that it was iliotibial band syndrome (ITB). This is a condition where the muscle that runs along the side of the knee rubs against the thigh bone causing inflamation and, as I can attest, pain.

Unfortunately, I need to stop all activity that causes this muscle to rub against my thigh bone for at least one month. This precludes running, biking, stairs etc. I’ve decided to take up swimming this month.

One of the reasons I like the marathon is that it can be looked at as a metaphor for life. This is just another lesson the marathon teaches. I overworked myself to the point where I could do no more work. Just like preparing too little, preparing too much can also cause problems.

Now I’ve got my sights set on Boston next Spring. Hopefully, I can make a full recovery and begin training next month. I think I’ve got an angle on a number. Since I won’t be able to officially qualify, I can get a number through raising money for a charity. My friend Alyssa works for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society which has race numbers for those who raise enough money for them. If you have not already chosen a charity to support for 2005, keep me in mind.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2004 at 10:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.