I can deal with it all, and I'm glad that we are nearing the end of racing season, so if it the dreaded IT band, I will be able to give it adequate time to recover. According to Wikipedia:
ITBS is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. The iliotibial band is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femurto the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.Runningtimes also had a more detailed introduction to ITBS here.
I'm not convinced that it is ITBS....yet, but it is absolutely a real possibility. So, the foam roller will come out and I will be using it! I'll try to walk down the steps every day at work this week when I leave for the day....I think that will be a good sign when I am truly recovered. Let's just hope its sooner rather than later! I do have a 5k this Friday night that I was really looking forward to (on my first trail when I did the C25k) and they have a kids race as well...so it was destined to be a family event! I suppose if I cannot run, then Joe can take my bib, so all is not lost. But, I really wanted to run it...but before you even say it, I know that ITBS is not something to take casually. I know its not worth the risk. I just hope that the stairs will tell me its something else soon!
Yikes. ITBS is really painful. Forget about the knee pain and focus on the IT Band. I used to have similar pain and treated it with a foam roller. That was almost as painful as the running itself. Eventually, I came to realize it was my running form. Since I started forefoot striking, it has gotten a lot better. Good luck.
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