The Injured Runner

This post is a little long, but the back story takes up most of it.

When I was in 10th grade, I joined my high school track team for the winter and spring seasons. My running experience included running 3 and a half laps during gym class, so naturally I was ready to be a varsity athlete.

In a word, I was awful. My coaches put me in the mile race, because I definitely didn't have the speed to be a sprinter. I hated it. All I wanted was to be a part of a team, and my main motivation for joining the team was to be able to buy a sweatshirt that said "Levittown Track" on it. I thought I was so cool, even though I hardly gave any effort in practice, and compensated for the few miles I was running by eating extra of everything.

Most of our practices were outdoors, and they consisted of interval running on the track. Simple stuff, but I would count the minutes till it was over. I used to contemplate how I could pretend to "fall" and have a reason to not work out. I was really lazy. Once I actually managed to get out of practice by convincing my coach that I had injured my ankle, since I felt a tiny bit of pain when I walked. One step. The night before.

As you could predict, when spring track was over, so was my running career. I got my sweatshirt - now I had no reason to run anymore.

Fast forward a few years, when I decided to start running for real. I was a Junior in college, and I decided I wanted to start running again....so that I could have a finisher's medal in a marathon. This time though, I fell in love with running. I subscribed to Runner's World, and would read every issue cover to cover, wishing I understood the advice in every section. I always skipped over the injury section. My logic was that since I ran so slowly (I started at 4.6 mph on the treadmill....a 13 minute mile!), I COULDN'T get injured. I really wasn't stressing my body, even though I was logging 25 mile weeks. I ran for a year without any kind of pain.

Then during a half marathon in May 2010, I felt some bad pain in my left foot. It hurt to even stand on it for a few weeks after the race, so I made up my mind that I had a stress fracture (I enjoy being dramatic), even though at most it was probably a VERY minor sprain. I took a few months off, and never felt that pain again. I started getting a little faster, and after PRing by about a minute during my first Divas' Half Marathon, I signed up for another half for May of this year.

That's when the whole trouble started. I started feeling a soreness in my right knee. But I still had the logic of, "I'm running over 10:00 miles. I'm just being lazy." I did the same workouts, and upped my mileage as the race got closer.

Then came St. Patrick's Day.

With about 7 weeks left until my half, I decided it was time to run a 10 miler. After a long, cold New York winter, it was around 60 degrees out. My friend told me he'd buy me a beer if I could run 10 miles, so I did it. I went to class that night, excited to get my free beer afterwards. Class ended, I got up, and my knee completely buckled. I dragged myself out into the hallway and sat down at a desk, where I was completely unable to even bend my knee. My friend got to my building, and we still went to the bar, with him basically forcing me to hop on one leg.

I went to the orthopedist, and I was diagnosed with patellar tendinitis. The doctor prescribed me to 6 weeks of physical therapy, along with the worst prescription of them all - no running. I ended up missing the half marathon, and ever since then, I've struggled with my knee when I do too much too soon.

When you're a runner with an injury to somewhere like your knee, everything changes. If I could do nothing but run, I would log as many miles as I could. Instead, I've found myself using the elliptical more than I would like. Running has been my way to escape, but with an injury, it causes me more stress than I would like.

It's funny, but when I think back on my time running track in High School, it really is the polar opposite of how I am now. I "earn" the sweatshirts I wear now. I'm not a part of a team, but a worldwide group known as "runners."

Most importantly, when I used to hope for an injury, now all I want to do is run.