It was very nice to get back with the group for a run this morning. Stephanie, Laurie, Randy, Biff, and I started from Memorial Park at 6:30. They were scheduled for 20 miles and I had 17 on my training plan. I wasn't sure what to expect given the recent issues with my IT bands ... yes, it's both legs now. I figured I'd go out with the group and see how far I could go. I was fully prepared to walk it in if necessary. I just hoped that if I had a problem that it would happen early or late in the run to make the walk shorter! The ITB's started flaring up around 4-5 miles. It wasn't the sharp, intense pain that I've had before. It was more of a dull ache. I kept going. We went down around the Rice University campus. The ITB's were getting progressively worse and my pace was falling off. At 13.5, I broke from the group to head back to the park. This is where I planned to leave them to shorten my run to 17 miles. Once I was away from the group, I got slower and the strain on my knees became more persistent. I finished the run but it wasn't a strong one. 17 miles @ 8:50/mile I wore my old blue Mizuno Wave Rider 10's today. I haven't worn them in a long time. I just wanted to change shoes to see if that helped my ITB's any. It's hard to say .... I also took 800 mg Ibuprofen before starting and "rolled" my legs with a rolling pin. During the week, I also did stretching and strengthening exercises hoping to alleviate the problem. | 