Running.. the paradigm shift?

With about a month left for the Chicago marathon, and with my knee still not in shape, I feel my options are getting restricted. I had been continuing my physical therapy the past two months and doing the exercises. I gave myself a break from running and was walking for almost 3 - 4 weeks. But still, when I tried running again, the ITB and knee pain and sometimes, the shin pain are there. I don't know if I will do the marathon on Oct 12th. All this has left me concerned, worried and frustrated.

But I do realize I have not been regular in my exercises. And that I am looking at it from a short term perspective. It is almost like 'let me complete this silly marathon somehow and get it over with'. Instead, I am going to look at it from the paradigm of 'enjoying my running' and running for life. Inspite of my breaks in running and training, I still realize I have had a whole lot of positives. From the time when I could hardly run 500 yards at a stretch, to now - I can easily run 3 miles. A lot of muscles in the body have started functioning actively and slowly building up strength. I used have early minor symptoms of arthritis in knees, those seem well-oiled and not too jerky now. So, there is a whole world of benefits to running and I am enjoying it.

So, I am going to continue enjoying running as I do. And I am also getting regular at my stretching and exercising. For example, I need to stretch my ITB on the roller at least twice every day. I will do that. I will do everything to keep me in the race for the chicago marathon. I also started running in the swimming pool. This is less stressful on the knees and will give my ITB and knees enough time to recover while I continue to build my endurance and strengthen my leg muscles on the whole. Pool running is easy. And it can be more fun if you have friends cheering you. Care to join?!

PS: This is a great place to learn about injury prevention for runners and also about some of the common running injuries.
http://www.smiweb.org/omt/guides.html