I ran my first half marathon 4 years ago this Friday (St. Patrick’s Day) and it was one of the most painful ordeals I’ve ever willingly put myself through. I threw together a decent training plan but one that didn’t include much in the way of strength training or proper stretching. Sure I went to the gym on occasion and did a few stretches after (almost) every run but I definitely didn’t put the time in that I should have. A few weeks before the race, I felt a twang in the outside of my knee that I thought was just stiffness. It was an unseasonably cold day in Tampa, FL and I was on my longest run so far. Thinking the pain in my knee was just joint stiffness from the cold, I pushed myself to finish the run. The next day, the stiffness had turned to a dull pain that put my training on hold. I’d completed an 8 mile run but didn’t run again until race day 3 weeks later.

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On race day, the pain in my knee came back around mile 2 so I spent most of the race just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. This was my first race and dammit I was going to run the whole thing. I also had no concept of proper hydration or nutrition and only drank 1 cup of Gatorade at the halfway mark… As I said, this was easily one of the most painful ordeals I’ve put myself through. I could barely walk the next few days and when I finally visited a sports doctor she taught me all about what an IT band is and how much I’d ruthlessly punished mine through training and especially on race day. It took 6 months of physical therapy but I’d finished my first half marathon with a pretty decent time, 1:50:39.

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