Operation 26.2

My IT band has been giving me a hard time over the course of the last couple of weeks – not a good thing at any point, but particularly as I was trying to get everything together to run my first half marathon, the BAA Half Marathon, which is set for this Sunday morning. After a trip to the doctor, a couple of rounds of physical therapy, stretching, icing, resting, elevating, ingesting a lot of ibuprofen, compressing and the initial agony of foam rolling (a process that pretty much left me feeling like this), I was starting to feel pretty OK.

A running friend recommended to me booking a sports massage at the Boston Bodyworker, a massage clinic that features a special focus on highly active individuals. These people speak running, I was told, and can help prep the body for the activity and demands that are necessary to get the job done.

We’ll see how I am on Sunday when I run my half, but I am already greatly impressed with the sports massage performed by Amy Duverger, LMT, NCTMB. Not only did Amy work the muscles in my legs, she offered stretching and training tips. And she’s running the half on Sunday, too! I left the massage feeling calm, relaxed and ready for Sunday’s challenge.

While I’ve been busy preparing myself for Sunday, someone else decided to show me that good thoughts are coming my way. Upon arriving home, I was surprised to find a package waiting for me. Beth, one of my best friends and my former roommate up in Vermont, sent me brownies from Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties, personalized with a card wishing me luck and happy carb loading.

As it turns out, life is better with a Cinnamon Blonde Sweetie. This is running motivation that I can definitely get behind.