I did a no no.

I knew what I was doing was wrong, yet still did it. Have you ever been in a situation like that before? I will admit that this was a far cry from being the first time I've done this and suffered the consequences so I should know better by now, but still...

Last Thursday after I did upper body weights I went for a small 2 mile run, just to loosen everything up. It's hard to just go 2 miles when you feel good and when you get used to running more. So I decided to just add on a half a mile. Just a little .5. Well during that last .5 my IT band decided to flare up. Not just tightening, but that horrid injury mode pain. I tried stretching it, icing it but it really hurt. All day.

Friday I woke up to it feeling good. So I went to my spinning class. No pain at all. I still iced it as a precaution and stretched it really good. But by the evening the pain was coming back. I iced it some more. All the while the real debate was going on in my mind about the next day. We were going to do 18 miles. What to do? What to do?

Quite simply I need running in my life right now. Not only do I physically need it, but it is providing some much need stress relief and time to think. It is a NEED. There are so many things that are out of my control and I'm doing my best to just sit back and realize that everything will work out and I need to quit stressing. But running is what I need right now to help me do just that.

So I woke up Saturday morning and my knee hurt. I got ready and went back and forth in my mind as to whether I should go or not. I really wanted to go. I didn't want to make Heather do the run by herself and more than that, I just really wanted to go. I was excited about the route and the weather. So I decided that I'd go and if the pain got worse, I'd be a good girl and call my husband to come and get me.

18.5 miles later and I was still good. The pain never got any worse and by the end, it was actually feeling a little bit better. I was SO happy! The rest of Saturday was spent icing and stretching and icing some more. It never got any worse.

Now this left me with even more of a question of what to do this week. Should I rest it and ice it and go in and have it worked on? Should I just keep trying it out and stop if it gets bad? The thought of being injured and not being able to run makes me cry. I don't want to make it worse, but I also don't want to stop if I don't need to.

Monday I did my kickboxing video with no pain. I still iced it as a precaution. Then came a scheduled 8 miler on Tuesday. I made me promise myself that I would take it easy and get off the treadmill if it hurt at all. I'm very pleased to say that I made it the whole 8 miles and have never been so happy to go that far on the treadmill. Towards the end I had a big smile on my face and felt great. I iced again as a precaution and rolled it. Even rolling it wasn't too painful.

Today I did upper body weights again and ran 2 miles. Only 2 miles, I didn't want to push my luck. And iced again.

So at this moment, I'm chalking this up to a miracle. I'm being looked after. I think I have an angel on my side right now. I think God knows I need running. With only 4 1/2 weeks until the marathon and only one more really long run, I think I may make it. I'm going to keep praying and having faith that I'll make it to that day strong and ready to run and then stay healthy so that I can start training for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June.

As for my speed workout tomorrow... I think I'll make it an easier tempo run instead and see how I do. It's still 8 miles so I'll be sure to warm up for at least 2 miles. Then a hilly 10 miler on Saturday shouldn't be too bad. Keep me in your prayers and maybe this miracle will stick!