Joy, Joy and More Joy

I guess the Lisbon Half Marathon is more than a race to me.  About two years ago I, on a night out and half joking, said to my friends I'm going to run the Dublin Marathon and what followed was laughter.  The next day while sober I though maybe it is a big ask but a half marathon is not out of the question.  So I tried to get a few friends interested in the Lisbon half as I thought it would also make a good holiday.  I began running properly in January last year and now there are three of us scheduled to run the Lisbon half.

But during the first run of 2001 I got injured I have not managed to run more than 3.8km without my knee saying "stop, no more, I quit".  With the Lisbon half marathon only 7 weeks away I've begun to get more disillusioned and began thinking that it was just a dream that I would not be able to run across the bridge in Lisbon, until today.

Today I got up asking myself am I wearing the IT Band strap correctly.  I checked out the image on the box and it seemed that maybe I've had it slightly out of position (upside down).  I drove to the Éire Óg clubhouse, which is a Gaelic Football ground with a 1km floodlight track and ran there.

I adjusted the strap to the correct position and began running at a steady pace.  After 1km I stopped and stretched out my now warmed up legs and then I ran some more.  In my head the goal was to reach 4km and hope my knee would be quiet.  When I reached 4km pain free and surprised I kept going.  5km still pain free the legs kept going. Once I hit 6km I stopped but still I was pain free.  I stretched out and drove home for the first time this year happy with my run and feeling that Lisbon is a distinct possibility.