Monday, April 25, 2011

My First Baby Step

So you all read my post yesterday about my head being in a fog.  I appreciate all the comments, helpful thoughts and notes of understanding.  Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm not quite out of the rut yet either but I'm working on it, and if you know me at all, you know I'm really working on it.  Good things come with time, patience and work.  I'm sure this rut is a good thing and I feel like if you don't sit in the bad, you'll never see the good.

With that said, today I went out for my first run in four weeks.  No, the run wasn't doctor approved and I wasn't positive that it was a good thing to do, but mentally I had to try it.  I promised myself I would stop with any really sharp, horrible pain.  I'm pretty sure that once I was thinking that that type of pain could possibly happen I probably should have made the decision not to try it yet. But I did.  

Now, I'm guessing you are you expecting to me to say I flew like the wind, soared through the streets with a smile on my face and was brought to tears by the warm breeze whisking through my hair? Absolutely-NOT!  The first thing I started thinking was "Am I doing the right thing?  How do I know? How bad should it hurt?  I felt that twinge-did you feel that twinge? How bad of a twinge should you stop yourself from running? Should I call the Doctor and make sure I couldn't have made it worse?  Will they do another xray? Will they do another MRI?  I better make sure to walk in between this run."  I started thinking about my first runs and then I thought about Dina who was just starting out again after not running for quite some time.  This was hard. 

It took work, a lot of work, to get where I was and I realized in that moment,  that the day-by-day worry of mileage, who I was running with, where I was running and pace blah blah, I lost the appreciation of all the hard work, sweat and sometimes tears it took me to get there. There being a place where I could confidently call myself a runner.  I realized that part of my rut is the feeling of being humbled by my injury.  Now, to many, I may not be the best runner, the fastest runner. I have never placed in a race and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be the next BQ'er  BUT I worked hard to get where I was at and I'm  proud of it!

So, here I am again feeling like a beginner and as much as I hate it, I love it.  I'm not pain free so I am going to take it very easy.  I did only 2 miles today at an extremely slow pace.  I'm confused on what to do next but I will ask tons of questions tomorrow at PT and I would like to pick your brains also!  I'm happy I got out there even though it wasn't pretty...it was a start..and you have to start somewhere.

1.  When you had your first run after an injury did the injured area feel sore?  Is this a good, bad, ugly or normal thing?  
2.  Besides ice, anti-inflammatory pills, stretching and rest do you have any other suggestions?
3.  Do the twinges ever totally go away?
4.  Should it hurt? (I think I know what you'll say to this)

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5 comments:

  1. ahhhhhh. I totally related to every single word in this post. Seriously. Coming back from an injury is SO hard. Every single little twinge, tweak or pain I am wanting to call the doctor and get a test run because I have no idea what is "normal" pain or "okay" pain or "bad pain." SO frustrating. I wish I had advice. It has been a slow, tough and frustrating journey but its nice to know others out there are going through the same thing so we can get through it together :)
    I hope these things go away though...I really do! I totally understand the feeling of working SO hard to get to a certain point and the feeling like you have to start over...we are definitely at the same point right now. I really need to come back and read what others write so I can learn as well :) But seriously...lets get through this together...k?

    have a good night! and hang in there :) thinking about you!!

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  2. Great questions Annette. I still have those questions. You must really listen to your body. Take this one thing from me, your little sister, you don't want to have to get surgery on both your legs because you ran too much, trying to ignore the pain. Make sure you are resting, icing and stretching. Pay attention to when the twinges, or pain begins... write things down. It could be because you had four weeks off or it could be something more.

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  3. Baby steps are GOOD!! I bet you will be back to where you were faster than you think. Keep taking baby steps and don't overdo it, and try not to stress too much when you are running. Relax and enjoy as much as you can. Keep it up! :)

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  4. I so appreciate this post Annette, especially today because my knee is killing me! There is no way I could run and I'm concerned that I'm going to lose my umph and hang it up --- particularly because I'm so early in the game.

    I'm cheering you on and thanks for encouraging me.

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  5. Hi Annette,

    I just found your blog - I too am rehabbing a hip injury from running and can totally relate to everything you write. I wish I had some deep words of wisdom... but I'm asking the exact same questions. Anyways, just wanted to let you know there are others out there asking the same thing! Thanks so much for blogging about this. :)

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