Stretch, Run, Stretch

Nike Free 4About two weeks ago, on January 17th, Dr. Sohail Shayfer told me I was suffering from iliotibial band syndrome. He told me to take a break from running so much, to take two Aleve naproxen sodium tablets every twelve hours for four weeks, and to stretch, stretch, stretch.

I’ve never stretched before or after a run or a workout in my life, so it’s been challenging, but I’ve been doing it. I’ve also been religiously taking my Aleve and waited more than two weeks before running again. Early Wednesday evening I did a quick little three-mile jog around my neighborhood and it felt pretty good. I stretched before and after, too.

Last night — after working all day and going bowling with my wife and son — I realized that I (a) was about 1200 Nike Fuel points short of my daily goal of 4000 and (b) only needed about 1500 points to make January my best month ever. So at about ten o’clock I grabbed the Nike Free 4.0 running shoes that my wife gave me for Christmas and went for a run.

I had a great run, and am happy to report that my knee felt fine the whole time. I’m going to slowly work my way back to a decent half-marathon pace and then see if I think I’ll be able to kick it in this year’s Los Angeles Marathon (on March 17th). And a five-mile run is worth about 2500 Nike Fuel points, so I made my daily goal and crushed my previous best month ever.

You can see the route I ran, including my pace, etc. on the Nike link here:

Here are the songs I heard on my run:

  1. Radio — Hot Water Music
    The pace of this track is much too slow for my runs, but it was late and dark and I was in a foul mood, so I let it play. (There’s a faster version of this song by Alkaline Trio that I like more, but that one is still too slow for running.)
  2. Good Lovin’ — Rascals, The
    This one started playing and I just wasn’t paying attention and let it go. It’s actually quite a good running song.
  3. Los Angeles — Sugarcult
    Good pacing for a run.
  4. Light of Day (live) — Springsteen, Bruce
    For some reason I just can’t skip this song while running. The way it builds at the end just makes me power through and start running full-speed, regardless of how my body feels.
  5. All the Small Things — blink-182
    Nostalgia.
  6. (F)lannigan’s Ball — Dropkick Murphys
    The excellent beat of this track makes it great; the lyrics are pretty funny, too.
  7. Eye of the Tiger — Survivor
    I realize the corniness factor is off the charts for this one, but it really does make a good background for a run.
  8. What’d I Say — Charles, Ray
    Ray Charles has a half dozen or so songs that are just paced perfectly for running. This one is my favorite, though.
  9. Monkey Wrench — Foo Fighters
    I think New Way Home is a better running song by Foo Fighters, but this one is still good to get the blood pumping.
  10. My Body — Young the Giant
    I have no idea where I found this song, but I love it and it is great for running.

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