Bump in the Marathon Road

I should be in Week 10 of training.  Week 8's highlight was getting over the soreness from Week 7's long run (9 miles).  I blamed the increased soreness on the treadmill since I normally do my long runs outside.  I completed the Week 8 training and long run (10 miles, stats in previous post) but the soreness was so strong last week that I didn't loosen up on two shorter runs I attempted in Week 9, I rested the rest of Week 9.  It was hurting to walk.  The pain was mostly in my hip which is a major concern to me since last time I trained for a marathon (9 years ago) I got a stress fracture in my hip.

Week 9 went like this Monday 3 miles, Tuesday 4 miles but felt really heavy and tight.   Rested Wednesday. Rested Thursday.  There go my two rest days and still hurting.  Finally Friday, the tenderness moved down my leg a little and while it still was causing me pain, it was not in my hip or while walking as much.  The tenderness sort of moved down the back of my leg and now it's mostly on the outside of my knee, sort of just above the knee.  There goes my training plan!

I went to see the physical therapist yesterday and was given some exercises for strengthening the IT band and loosening the hip flexors.  Things that potentially contributed to my injury:
(1) Running my base (and shorter runs) on the treadmill yet doing the long runs outside, perhaps some muscles are not built up enough on the treadmill but then I am consecutively pounding them on the long runs
(2)  I always run with the traffic.  I thought that was the safest way and probably is for not getting injured by a car but not necessarily true for injuring yourself.   Apparently the slope of the road (or any uneven surface) is more taxing on one side of your body so it is important to alternate sides of the road and run in the middle when you can.  Who knew?
(3) I'm slightly misaligned which I don't know exactly what that means.

I've read a little about the injury and perhaps my marathon hopes/plans/dreams are not dead yet!  Must rest and do the exercises for the rest of the week perhaps do some cardio, either the bike or swimming.  Hoping that one more week of no running and keeping the cardio up will ensure that when I start running things will be well on the road to recovery.  I'm already telling myself that while these may not be the most taxing weeks running-wise, this is my marathon test.  Do I want it? YES! How bad?  Willing to do what it takes to MAKE IT HAPPEN (without injury, of course).  I will MAKE IT HAPPEN.  Must write this on a note and stick on my mirror as positive reinforcement!