Mixed Bag

Quick update: I had a great "training race" last weekend, setting a PR in the Spirit of Columbus half marathon. My goal was to finish in 1:51 (8:30 mile), and I ended up at 1:53:20, which is two minutes faster than my previous time. I also negative split the race, so I felt a bit like death at the end. So that's great news - getting faster! Also great news - I hit my fundraising goal! Thanks again, on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to my wonderful supporters!

Unfortunately, my IT band has really flared up, much like it did about this time last fall when I got to new mileage. At its worst, while running, my knee begins to have sharp pains and my toes get numb; generally, though, it's just really tight and uncomfortable. This week, I've rolled the heck out of it with the foam roller, iced consistently, and done a great deal of cross training. I'm worried about my quickly decreased mileage, so I did three two-a-days, with core+weights in the morning and cross training in the afternoon. I rested today, and am still in quite a bit of pain, so will need to soon make a decision about what my planned 19-mile run will look like tomorrow morning. I'm frustrated because I've gotten a lot stronger over the past year and have also done variations of my physical therapy exercises to keep things balanced... oh well, we'll see.