Glass City 5k/Injury Status

I am way behind so I'll try to keep this one short and sweet.  You'll notice that I ran the Glass City 5k instead of the half marathon.  I developed an IT band problem soon after the ORRRC Half Marathon on April 3rd.  At first it felt like a strained quad, but now I'm sure it's an IT band issue.  Anyway, I was in no shape to try a half up in Toledo and opted for the 5k instead.  My time was 24 minutes and change, which is about 3 minutes slower than my normal time.  I do have some thoughts on the race.

The expo that Saturday was much better than expected.  Everything was running very smoothly and there were quite a few vendors.  I wasn't really in the mood to look at too much, but it looked like there were some great deals on gear.  The race itself was very well organized.  It was pretty windy on Sunday morning, but thankfully Savage Hall Arena was open for runners to stretch prior to the races.  The half/full started at 7:00 and, I'll admit, I was ticked off seeing them go out without me.  I never thought I'd get to the point where I was so disappointed to not be in the half marathon.  The 5k started at 7:15 and went well considering I wasn't in any shape to race.  The first mile was very, very slow as I was simply reading how hard my body could go.  I actually was at about 9:30 for the first mile.  The second and third miles weren't bad at all as I clocked in at roughly 7:30 for each.  The finish is very cool in the Glass Bowl Stadium.  I finished about 62 out of over 800 runners.  Not bad on an injured IT band.

I had to cancel running a 5k on Easter and didn't do much running for a couple weeks after Toledo  My workouts have consisted of icing the leg and working out with a foam roller.  I'm finally able to run again and have had some good workouts.  This weekend is very important as I've got a half marathon scheduled.  I  plan to use the run/walk method and simply see where I am.  My goal race is the Carmel Half Marathon on June 11th, so I am hoping for a full recovery and possibly a 5k on Memorial Day.  I'm not looking for a PR until Fall, but I'm hoping to be back to normal soon.

Next race:  Seymour Mini Marathon- Seymour, IN