Back in action?

Since Grindstone, my running has been sporadic at best. I developed a bit of an IT band issue and it has caused me to take a few more days off than I would like. The good news is that cycling and weight lifting doesn't hurt and it doesn't seem to irritate it.

My brother introduced me to rolling my legs and IT band with a roller and it seems to work really well. Well enough to run a spur the moment 5k in Fairfax on Saturday and win. That was kind of cool. But unfortunately, the band hurt pretty badly afterward.

I have been in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the week for Smartwools sales meeting since Sunday.


They are releasing the socks that I tested during the cross country run next fall so they had me come out for the fun. It's been really cool out here. Plus, I've gotten a chance to see the new apparel coming out next year and it is crazy awesome. Smartwool definitely has athletes in mind when they are designing their clothes.

Plus PLUS, in my free time I've been able to run up the mountain of the ski resort since that's where all the meetings have been. I ran Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and all three days the IT band was pretty achy. I took Wednesday off but when I ran today I went faster and longer and there was no pain. Does this mean it's all healed? Probably not. But I do think it's a step in the right direction.


In other news, I got into the Hellgate 100k in December. It'll be interesting to train hard while keeping an eye on my IT band.

-- Patrick