You read that right. I almost did something really stupid this morning. I almost went for a run. Before you worry that you clicked on the wrong blog post, allow me to explain.
Last week, I blogged about how great my running had been going and how I had been fairly pain free. If only I could rewind and take back those words, as I fear that my cheerful bragging brought me bad luck. Last Wednesday, September 28th, I took off for a run and felt immediate pain in my heel. Nothing hurt the day before, nor did anything feel wrong as I was moving about that morning. Normally, I wouldn’t be overly concerned as I have dealt with persistent, though not always serious, injuries for many years. This pain, however, I remembered quite well. It sidelined me several months ago for nearly 3 weeks. I panicked. After all, the Twin Cities 10 mile is October 9th. So, with a week and a half before race time, I did indeed start to worry. Of course, I finished my run and hoped it was just an off day. Sadly, my ankle was swollen that evening and it hurt to walk. I quickly came up with a plan that would ensure I’d be at the starting line for the 10 miler. I didn’t run Thursday or Friday, but I did need to log some miles on Saturday to see how things felt and get in one more quality run before race day. Dan and I did 7.5 miles that morning. Things felt okay. Not 100%, but I didn’t need to Uber home either. If only you didn’t need your feet for everyday life, it would make it much easier to rest them. We had a weekend full of activities, and nothing was going to slow us down.
By Monday morning, my heel was still sore and my ankle a little swollen. I told myself no running this week. Allow the swelling to go down, do some cross training, and maybe get in a couple of miles on Saturday to try it out (and not be totally blindsided on Sunday). Work in a little strength training early in the week, still well before the race, as I don’t want to drastically change my workouts a week before the event. It all sounded promising. I would take it easy and improve my chances to compete on Sunday.
Today, I almost broke down and went for a run two full days ahead of my plan. First of all, it is truly killing me that I’m not running the full marathon (as predicted in last week’s blog). Yes, I’m worried I won’t be able to make it 10 miles, but lamenting that I’m not going 26.2 miles. Couple that with taking the week off to rest my foot, and I was in despair this morning. I was so close to heading out the door in my running gear when finally, reason set in. What was truly more important, I asked myself? A short, likely unfulfilling, run today with the possibility of further damage, or being able to race on Sunday? If I was experiencing frustration today after not running for 4 days, how would I feel when I was watching everyone from the sidelines on Sunday, and then possibly not running for weeks?
And so, as hard as it was, I turned my focus elsewhere. I did some work. I did some research for a committee on which I volunteer. I did some more work. And now, I’m writing this blog post. It’s the one thing I wish I could change about my running. I wish the quality of my day didn’t depend on how far or how fast I ran, or if I ran at all. I wish I could feel accomplished, or at least the same level of accomplishment, in something else. For as good as running can make me feel, not running can make me feel pretty awful. However, the decision I made today is not something I would have done years, or even months, ago. I do feel proud that I made a good decision for myself on this particular day.
With any luck, my discipline will be rewarded on Sunday. With any luck, I will be at that starting line and the only thing I’ll be worried about is deciding what to have for lunch afterwards. After all, this is one the premier events in the country and it requires sacrifice of all forms to get there.
Thanks for listening and for possibly sympathizing. And if you rolled your eyes at my absurdity, it’s okay; I won’t know.