So here’s a summary of my health so far in 2016:
- Death cold from hell
- Eye infection
- Mild groin pull
- Allergic reaction to medicine
- Bad back
- Locked joint in foot
- Hit by a car and knocked off my bike
- General despondent attitude
Looking back over this, that seems like a lot in the space of 2 months. I’m just going to wait here while you all send me vast amounts of sympathy.
No? Ok then.
As someone who had only taken 1 sick day in 2 1/2 years (yes, that is a humble brag. I was properly proud of that) having this start to 2016 has seriously knocked me, not just physically but mentally as well (and this was before I made friends with concrete, which only happened yesterday after I’d started writing this post).
I don’t know about you, but I use running to cope with my stress. If I’m having a bad day, a 30 minute run in my lunch break can work absolute wonders. So that fact that I haven’t been able to properly get my teeth into my training at all yet in 2016 means that my stress has been building. But I can’t run to get rid of it. I hate not being able to run. So then the stress builds some more. But I can’t run……… So round and round we go like a dog chasing its tail, except that it’s way less entertaining for those around me.
So what’s a girl(runninglate) to do? I can either wallow in my bad luck, or I can just accept that quite simply, this is life. Who said it would always be plain sailing? Admittedly I’ve had an abnormal run of fails, but as one awesome runner liked to say, “when it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for the stars.” I know in other circumstances this could sound like cheesy inspo you’d expect to find on Instagram, but it couldn’t be more fitting right now.
When I dropped out of the half, my brilliant friend Alice sent me a link to an article about Jessica Ennis when she had to drop out of the Beijing Olympics with a fracture in her right ankle. I imagine that making a decision like that is approximately 1000 times worse than having to drop out of a local half marathon. But look at what she has since gone on to achieve. Injury is part and parcel of being an athlete. It’s how you deal with the setbacks that shows how strong you really are.
And yes. I now consider myself an athlete. I never used to call myself that before despite the fact that Alan always has done. I just thought of myself as a runner. It was only at one of my many recent trips to Spritely Osteopathy that I called myself an athlete and Melissa picked up on it. The conversation went something like this:
“You called yourself an athlete.”
“Huh. So I did.”
“Good. You are.”
This short exchange showed a shift in the way I see myself, and it gave me a little boost during what has been a difficult time. It’s not much, but the little things count.
So I’m going to focus on how lucky I am to walk away from being hit by a car (my brother called me a double-hard bastard which is one of the best compliments I’ve ever received) and focus on the future. Anytime I can’t run I’ll work on my pull ups. If my legs need some rest I’ll go for a swim. If I need some downtime, I’ll do some yoga. Plus I’m going to dust off my Headspace app and set aside 10 minutes a day to get some more Yin in my life (because all this Yang cannot be good for me – thanks to Sigrist Acupuncture for the brilliant talk on Chinese medicine earlier this week)! There will always be options.
Enough of all this. I’m going to go and look at the stars. Bugger off clouds.
Not a fair start to the year at all. Another blessing for you, though, is that you have about a million hobbies. Imagine if you were ONLY interested in running. I’m waiting for that book 🙂 Get well very soon xxxx
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That’s a god-awful run of bad luck. Have you been back out on the bike? It’s the kind of thing that can freak one out a bit. But an important hurdle to get over. Should be no problem for a double hard bastard of course 😉
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I worked from home yesterday but am getting back on it in about 30 minutes. Wish me luck!
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patience
and the listening
so difficult
when we feel
down
and out
but you’re not
as expressed
you are
taking the knocks
and Will
fight back
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I agree with you about using running to cope with stress. I have a long-term injury that prevents me from running, so I understand where you are coming from. Check out my story https://firstthingfirstblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/am-an-athlete/
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Loving your ‘tude!
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I can’t say I’m maintaining the positivity 100% of the time but I’m trying!
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