One of my favorite quotes is from this documentary 180 degrees south. It’s from Yvon Chouinard, the climber and many who founded Patagonia (a company I passionately support, and no I don’t get free stuff from them)
He said “The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that’s when adventure starts”
Training for a marathon is an adventure – lots of stuff goes wrong. You get a strange ache in your knee, which turns into pain in your IT band. Foam rollers, and any sort of self massage contraptions quickly become your friends. I was heading out for my last 16 mile run before the marathon. I decided I would run along the C&O canal, which had been my favorite route this year. I was about 2.5 miles from home, and all of the sudden my left foot hit a rock funny, and it folded under me. I heard a loud pop and felt pain.
I sprained my ankle. It was swollen, it was purple, blue and green. A doctor at urgent care handed be crutches and orders not to run for at least 2 weeks. I definitely cried.
But then I decided that I wouldn’t look at this as a failure, or as the 15 weeks of training a waste. I took the time to heal, and last week I started running regularly again.
My ankle is not back to where it was, and neither is my running. But my adventure has begun. I’m thinking about how to get back in shape. I’ve registered for a half marathon in April, and I’m going to try to focus on 5Ks and 10Ks to get my speed up.
I’m disappointed that I couldn’t try for that sub-4:00:00 marathon this year. It still makes me sad to think about it. But I managed to get out of town the weekend of the marathon, and I saw some amazing stuff.
I was happy to head down to one of my favorite places on earth – the Outer Banks. The weather was amazing, abundant sunshine and temps in the upper 60s. That gave J & I plenty of opportunities to walk on the boardwalk along the Currituck sound.
I also had plenty of chances to sleep at night (a treat from working the night shift) and to knit!
I’m currently working on June’s Favorite Cardigan, which I think will come in handy for the 3am chill that seems to set in on the overnight shift at work.
I’m slowly getting back to normal running-wise. I’m trying to take it easy on myself. Coming back from an injury is no joke. I’m also trying to focus on some strength work to compliment my running.
Have you ever had to come back from an injury?
What have you done to pass the time while injured?
Fit For The Finish Line 