One of the worst things for an athlete is an injury. As a runner, the thing that I love to do the most is... you guessed it. Run! So when something prevents me from being able to do that which is beyond my control it really eats me up inside. Maybe I take it too harshly, but I tend to get pretty upset when an injury occurs.
Last year I ran my first marathon, which was my first distance over a half. You can read about how it went here on my blog. During my training, around my 16 mile run, I injured my knee. I don't know what happened to it but I think it was just a classic case of runner's knee, and because I was continuing to train for a longer distance it never really healed. After running the marathon, because of the fact that I couldn't walk for a week after the race, I decided to take some time off from running to let my knee heal and I didn't run again until the 4th of July 5k race in my hometown. I spent the next 5 months building up my mileage from nothing and strengthening my knee and my legs. I started training for my 2nd marathon the day after Thanksgiving this year and am currently on my 5th week of training.
Last week my goal was to run ALL of my miles that were on my schedule. A goal that sounds practical of course, but with my busy life, running 5 days a week can tend to become very time consuming and some days it seems almost impossible to find time for a run. Last week my mileage was 24. I track all of my workouts on dailymile.com and you can see my progress through this link. I was supposed to run 3/6/3/6/11 for my miles, but things never really seem to pan out how I would like them to. I ended up doing 6/3/6/3/6. This Wednesday was a 6 mile run for me and the weather was crazy that day. It was almost 60 degrees outside, unusually warm for Ohio near the end of December. I left my house to hit the path as I usually do, and I noticed that my knee was feeling a little sore. The first time it has felt sore since... I don't know when the last time my knee has felt sore. I didn't think too much of it, and as I kept running the soreness slowly went away. My run was swift and the 6 miles felt easy. But when I stopped in front of my house, my knee started to throb. I immediately iced it, and was hoping for the best but the worst happened. For 2 days my knee was on fire. I could hardly bend it and it felt inflamed and sore. It felt like everything that I had been working for went out the window after this run.
People love to give me advice when I talk about a run that doesn't go well or an injury that I cant seem to get rid of and most of the suggestions involve the absence of running. Maybe I'm stubborn for thinking that is the most ridiculous suggestion, but most of the time I think that I can truly call myself a runner. I don't mind advice, in fact, I LOVE advice. But advice that tells you to quit when things start to get really hard seems very counterproductive for anyone.
There has to be balance in life. You have to "know when to hold em, and know when to fold em" in a sense. The human body is an amazing thing. It can adapt to almost anything that you place upon it, weather it be physical, mental or whatever else you can think of. Anyone who has ever been in the military can tell you that this theory is true. In a sense, you can do whatever you want to as long as you are willing to commit to hard work, dedication, and the proper sense of recovery. I heard a quote once that said the best kind of runner is one that has a lazy streak inside of them. A person that is willing to work really hard when it is time to work really hard, but can sit back and thoroughly enjoy a rest day without beating themselves up about taking time off. If you don't know when to back off, you can really wreck yourself in the long run but you also need to know that it is ok to push yourself. To take a chance and dive in for something that you really want, such as a marathon. Its healthy to run a marathon, as long as you follow a training plan and treat yourself right. One the that goes along with becoming an experienced runner, is that you learn to read then signs your body gives you, and if you are smart, you will listen to it when it says its truly time to back down and its going to take a lot more then a little knee pain to get me to quit. At least for now.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that you cant do something you love, even if it is slightly crazy. The people that tell you you cant do something are the ones that are going to be sitting on the couch while you are out there achieving your dreams.
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