I'm Injured

I’m officially 2 weeks into marathon training and I’m injured.

This is what happens when you don’t listen to yourself.

I’ve been running in the same shoes since February. It didn’t take long for me to experience lots of pain and discomfort in my ankles at the beginning of my runs. If I powered through and made it about a mile in then it would usually go away.

And then it got to the point where it wasn’t going away.

A lot of the time I would think about my shoes and consider that I probably need a new pair. I don’t know why because there was nothing wrong with my shoes and they weren’t that old. It was just something that I felt. But then the excuses came. I didn’t know what type of shoes to get. Didn’t want to spend the money. And wasn’t making the time to go to a store and figure it out.

So I continued to run until this week. And now, I believe I’m at the point where I shouldn’t run anymore. It’s a weird pain. It’s bad enough to know that I shouldn’t aggravate it further though. I tried to do a little self diagnosis via Dr. Google but in the end it doesn’t really matter what we call the issue. All that matters is that there is an issue.

At first I was super discouraged and frustrated over this whole thing. Literally every physical thing I sign up for results in me getting sick or injured. One time I signed up for an obstacle race with some friends and literally landed in the ER the morning of the race. There is always something that prevents me from doing the race, challenge, or whatever.

And for that reason alone, I am committed to doing this marathon no matter what.

Yesterday I took some time to go get new shoes. The running store is 50 minutes away but I made the trip. I was really resistant to getting a traditional shoe because all of my shoes are barefoot shoes, or close to it, and so I didn’t want anything big and bulky to run lots of miles in. Wide toe box, zero drop, please!

Well, I walked out of the store with a big and bulky shoe. 12mm drop, decent but not wide toe box… but it’s lightweight!

I had to humble myself in that experience and trust that the running store guy knows what he’s talking about. I chose to take his advice based on what he shared with me about his observations of me combined with the stories of other people who continued to run in the type of shoes that caused them issues. I went for a run yesterday and made it about half a mile before I experienced pain. I took that as a good sign but cut my running short and walked the miles I needed to get in for the day. Walking isn’t painful at all. And so, I shall walk.

I walked today’s mileage and I’ll walk my 7 miles tomorrow too.

And you know what, I am committed to walking every single training session if that is what it takes to get me to that marathon. I know that it’s not the same as running, but putting on the miles is better than putting on no miles at all.

In the meantime, I am exploring the concept of mindset and subconscious in relation to my injury and my track record for not completing physical tasks.

Why am I always getting injured or sick?

While there are definitely some technique tweaks I can and will be focusing on, I also believe there is a deep component on a psychological level that I haven’t uncovered yet.

After all, it’s all connected.

Instead of spiraling and wallowing in an injury, I am using it as an opportunity and listening. What is this circumstance teaching me and trying to tell me? How will it make me better? How can I still achieve my goal even if the road to getting there doesn’t look exactly as I envisioned?

I don’t know all of the answers yet, but as I uncover them I will be sharing.

Until then, you can catch me on long walks getting in my miles and practicing gratitude for my ability to even just do that.