Marathons In The Time Of Swine Flu

So how about this for race schwag?

The New York Marathon is including hand sanitizer in its goody bags for the 42,000 runners taking part in that race on November 1. Usually one gets energy bars or powered energy drinks or bandaids in nifty little cases with advertiser logos or sample packs of Heel Balm or Biofreeze and the like.

U.S News and World Report says marathon organizers are including the hand sanitizers as a step to protect participants from the H1N1 virus. They're also asking people who come down with something this week to please stay home and not run. It may sound like common sense to you, but from a marathoner's point of view, it's very hard to stay home in bed after physically and mentally preparing for weeks and weeks. One of my friends pulled a muscle in her thigh two weeks before a marathon, but she still ran it, figuring she could rest up and heal all she wanted *after* she'd run the 26.2. And me, I'm guilty of taking Dayquil to get through a little 8k race, and still being sick the following week, when I not only ran a 10 mile race, but doubled up and ran the course again afterward.  It was my 20 miler week. Funny thing is, I don't remember the cold as being that much of a problem; my IT band was giving me trouble that day.

Iliotibial band syndrome is the inflammation or injury of a band of muscle running down the outside of the thigh. It is a common knee injury, perhaps as common as the common cold. The IT band stabilizes the knee joint, and in a running stride, is supposed to slide smoothly over the joint. When it gets inflamed, it doesn't slide so smoothly and it, well, hurts.

The article also mentions the suppression of the immune system marathoners face, but the magazine quotes 72 hours of immune system vulnerability versus the 24 hours or less I've read about.

Hmmm. If supplies of the H1N1 vaccine don't arrive, maybe I should think about stocking up on Vitamin C and echinacea.