There are no words...

...to describe the pain that I experienced at physio last night. Except maybe

YEEEAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!


When I reported that I was still unable to run without pain, my PT was surprised and warned me that she would have to "dig deep this time." Did she ever! She worked my quads, the outside of my knee, my hamstrings, calves, hip and even my butt! She's a pretty small girl, but sure knows how to put some weight into her massage - at one point, one of the other PT's joked that she was leaving tread marks on the floor behind her! I left there black and blue, feeling like a tenderized piece of steak.

I have a lengthy and intense regimen of strengthening and stretching exercises to perform at home every day and will try running once more before my next appointment on Monday. We also went over some "rules" to prevent ITBS in the future. The most likely reason this happened is because I pushed myself much harder than I had trained for in the Chilly Half. If I want to run races fast, I need to maintain a solid base and I need to train fast. IT band issues can also occur as a result of poor alignment (already working on this with the new super-motion-control shoes) and weak quad and hip abductor muscles, so I will work on strengthening those.

During my torture treatment, I was able to have a good chat with two of the PT's, which made me feel a lot better about this whole situation. It's frustrating beyond words not to be able to run. It's become a lifestyle and I actually feel a huge void without it. They reminded me that I have years of running ahead of me, more races in my future than I can count. So what's a few weeks right now to nurse an injury and get my body healthy again? And of course, this won't be the last time. There are going to be bumps in the road, but the important thing is to take them in stride and learn from them, which will only make me a better runner in the long run. Run...hehe.

I left feeling confident, optimistic and enlightened.