Tsunayoshi's Journal: BackYard Burn #1

Ran my first race ever last Sunday, no intention of trying to win, just using these races as motiviation to get my fitness level back up.
 
Placed 21/35 in age group, 97/172 overall for the 5 mile (really 5.9 mile) race.
 
  Me at roughly 5.5 miles.
 
What sucks out of this is that all of my biking has given me Iliotibial band friction syndrone in both legs, but most predominantly in my left. My sports therapist (herself a triathlete) says that since I never had this problem until I started biking, that I need to see a bike fitting specialist and have them measure me and adjust set the bike (saddle position, height, handlebar angle, cleat angles, etc...) to fit me. Not an expense I had planned for, l was tempted to do it months ago before I started up running again and now wish I had just done it. I spent that last few days this week just doing enough cardio to warm up and then spending 30-45 minutes on leg stretching so I can run the next race in the series this Sunday.
 
We'll see how my recovery works out, at the next race the course is designed as a series of 3 different loops that each pass through the Start/Finish area at some point, so I have easy bail out options if I re-injure. I really don't want a DNF but don't want permanent damage either.