ITB Issues

After my second half marathon race in as many weeks, I believe I may have stressed my ITB band. That's the Iliotibial Band, a tendon that runs the length on the outside of the thigh. This typically causes knee and hip pain, and is a result or running too much, too fast, or on a cambered road, downhill, or simply from having a tight ITB to begin with. It can also be caused by leg length differences. In my case, in may be all of the above, since during my race on Sunday, I did start off with some knee and hip pain, but then it went away during the race, but then came back on strong after I got home. The race course itself was hilly, I was running beyond my comfort zone to try and reach a PR, I did another race just 2 weeks ago, and I do have leg length issues. When you combine "all" of those in one day, it's no wonder I have issues. To alleviate this, I used some ice on Sunday, took Advil, and have been doing various stretches to help make my ITB more elastic. It seems to be working since I was able to do a 3 mile recovery walk/jog today at the gym, after doing some light non-impact swimming yesterday. The stretches I've been doing involve doing side lunges, step downs, a lying ITB stretch, the piriformis stretch, wall bangers, and a couple of standing ITB stretches, and also using the stick to massage the thigh muscles and ITB crossways (not up and down), and also using a foam roller to roll out any kinks and knots and break down any scar tissue that might be developing there. It all seems to be working OK, so I hope to continue on the path to recovery. I also may start taking a glucosamine supplement, but I'm not sure if there's any scientific evidence that it actually works, but I don't believe there are any serious side effects either. I have another 5 mile Boystown Fun Run on Memorial Day that I've registed for, but I have no intentions of racing it, just hope to be able to run it for fun. My wife and daughter will be doing the 1 mile fun run/walk.