Everybody Hurts (And Plagiarises) Sometimes

Well, this last week has been The Week of the Health Professional (oh, I am SO feeling my age). As I mentioned after my last blog post, I had an appointment with a sports physio the day after the Women's Classic. I don't actually speak physio so a lot of what he said kind of went in one ear and out the other. Fortunately, the lovely Dee is fluent and she can translate - so my hopeful 'something about a tender fashion latte?' quickly became tensor fascia lata.

Basically, the lovely Gerard, my brand new sports physio, gave me a telling off for pushing through the pain and that my 'gutsy marathoner' impersonation was not clever. Dramatic performances are best left for the actual marathon, he said. My knee problem is in fact iliotibial band friction syndrome or ITBFS. The iliotibial band stabilises the knee during running, but the band rubs over some knobbly bit which combined with the flexion and extension of the knee while running can cause the area to become inflamed - and, why yes, I did just plagiarise that from Wikipedia (although 'knobbly bit' is entirely my own work).

And since we're plagiarising, why not just breach copyright as well? Thanks, Wikipedia!

This may well prove to be a bit of an ongoing problem so Gerard thought that a week of hitting it hard (the problem, that is, not the knee) was the way to go. Firstly, NO running, not even walking. Secondly, a week of anti-inflammatories. And thirdly, some stretches to limber up, one of which involves me rolling the outside of my thigh on a blue rubber roller. Ow. I have an appointment with Gerard tomorrow to see if those steps have helped and more importantly, to find out when I can start running again.

My second health professional visit was to the lovely Dr Ric to check on my iron levels. Disastrously low, I should have realised. I'm now on a supplement so strong that I may well set off the metal detectors at the airport but I am feeling much more energetic. So hoorah for iron supplements!

I SO hope that's the end of the medical stuff - and the desperately suppressed fear that I really am too out of condition to do this and that it was truly mad to think that I could. Apologies to 'Wicked' but something has changed within me ... I really, really love to run now and I want to give this marathon my absolute best shot. And I don't want some ill yo-yo titbits band friction syndrome giving me grief.

By the way, here is a blog I can relate to. Jackie, another first-time marathoner in New Zealand is 'Legging it for Louis', a young boy with severe Type 1 diabetes who is in need of expensive equipment in order to better manage his condition. It's hard not to be moved by what Louis has to live with.  I've just donated to her cause and am loving Jackie's blog, especially her 'Running Song of the Day' (which, speaking of plagiarising, I shall totally be incorporating into my blog!). Check out 'Legging it for Louis' here