I decided to leave a review in the hope that my case would help other runners in my situation. I have been training for my first half- marathon for 13 weeks. Around the 8th week, I started to develop a pain on the lateral side of my knee, that would specially intensify as I walked downhill or down the stairs. I continued running, but as my mileage increased, the pain increased until the point where it was impossible to run. Three weeks before the race, I had a long run of 10 miles, and after the third mile, I had to stop. The pain was excruciating, and I was crushed. I thought there was no way I could run 13.1 miles. I rested for a week, but the pain was there when I went downhill or when I tried to walk a bit faster than normal. So I was at a loss and had no idea what to do. I started doing a bit of research and I concluded what my problem was: Iliotibial Band Syndrome. I was very skeptical of bands and anything that I read online that said to help, and I thought the best thing for me was to quit running for the last 2 weeks before the race and simply cross train instead. However, as time went by I was concerned that my knee was not healed. So a few days before the race, I decided to test my knee and went out for a easy jog. Disaster ! I had to quit and was not even able to run 1 mile. So I made the decision of not even showing up for the half-marathon. However, 2 days before the race, I was researching online for something that would make my knee feel better. I read many reviews and went to many running forums and websites until I stumbled upon IT band Wrap by Por-Tec. I started to read the reviews (which were incredible helpful, thank you all for taking the time to write them! ) and had a bit of hope that this might actually help me. Well, sure enough, in the morning before the race, my package arrived and I decided to run for 10 minutes and test it. At the beginning, I was unsure where to put it. The actual instructions in the package say to place it about three inches above knee cap, but the picture in the package shows it right above it. Well, I tried it both ways and I decided that three inches felt better. In my test run (one day before the race), I was able to run for 10 minutes pain free ! This was a plus, without the band, I would have been limping from my knee and in excruciating pain. race day: I decided to go to the race and give it a shot, what the heck ? I had been training for 13 weeks and the worst thing that could have happened was that I was in so much pain, that I would have to leave the race. I promised myself that at the first signal of pain, I would leave the race and be glad that I tried. I will not walk you through my thoughts on the race, lol, but I will tell you that with every stride I was waiting for the pain to kick in and make me stop. I was sure that it was coming and that I would have to abandon the race. So, miles went by and I was still running ! ha ! It worked. I did it ! 13.1 miles and the band stayed right in place and it kept me pain free all the way. After the 6th mile, I felt my knee a bit tight, but not pain. I hope this review helps, Safe running !
