I have found myself giving a whole lot of advice on injuries lately. Working in the fitness industry I come in contact with fellow runners and workout nuts quite often. I even have many of my runner peeps send me messages asking about certain injuries they have encountered. I have been a runner now for nearly 12 years and it isn’t that I am some superfly runner. I honestly feel it is because they have seen me with the most injuries, but most importantly they see that I’m still rolling with the punches…
“Don’t compare your struggles to anyone else’s, do not get discouraged by the success of others. Blaze your own path and NEVER GIVE UP.”
My first example I talk to often is an excellent runner friend of mine, Martin. He has probably completed 3 marathons this year so far, not counting all the other half marathons and small races he has done and he did them all in a kick *ss time. He came up to me the other day at the gym and began talking to me of how his calve was out of whack since his last long run. I listened to him tell me of what he had done but in the back of my mind I had my own thoughts of the situation. I then looked up at him and said I can relate to this problem well. In 2012 I pulled my left calve, not only was this excruciating pain, I ended up missing a marathon I had trained for 12 hard weeks for. So needless to say I felt I had some advice to hand him on this issue.
“Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.” — Oscar Wilde
Martin is just like the rest of us runners. We are all slightly delusional when it comes to our bodies with injuries. We will be hurting so bad and still maintain an urge to run even in all this pain. He came in the gym today talking to me on how he got up this morning and decided to run, but he said only 2 miles. He then said I am in a little pain but not too much. I glanced up at him as he was limping around and said why did you feel you needed to run? Like the rest of us, he said I just do not want to lose anything I’ve worked so hard for… I let him finish talking and I said something to him that I say so often to him and a few other runners. That pain you feel is a red flag, it is a redirection for your life right now… Pay attention to this if you want to continue this sport or you will end up taking even longer to heal… He agreed with what I said and then he said that he would give himself some time to heal.
After I left work I got to thinking, what exactly is it in our minds that makes us feel this way when we are injured. I have been studying the brain now for nearly 3 years and this question still plagues me. In my studying I have come to understand a lot of these reasons. And it is my own opinion that our brain is literally so genius that it gives us these flags. Flags saying, “Whats going on with you, you aren’t doing this sport you do so much, go go go do do do”. Then I believe the other flag thrown at us, which is pain, saying “This shit is killing me”. I honestly believe these 2 flags are triggered in our brains just to counteract our common senses… Do we choose to the red or green flag???
Being the rebellious person/runner I am I have always taken that first flag. The one telling me to go go go Stephanie, you HAVE to do this! You would think after the first serious injury the old brain would say, Hey Steph, DO NOT GO THAT WAY AGAIN! Well wrong, this signal may be given but its usually ignored and I am guilty as charged of this but most of us runners are…I mean we have heard it all our life so many times. Run through it, you shouldn’t stop, no pain no game… Well, in my experience, and I have learned oh so the hard way with all this, is basically that is crap advice! Its quality over quantity, compassion over competition, and sometimes less is just absolutely the BEST!! This advice stands with most everything in our lives, not only our sport…
To end my entry I can say running or any exercise is an awesome practice for anyone to help balance life and sometimes basically find your sanity… The real breakthrough (I have discovered) through running and being active is finding that self-control… Meaning, holding onto the respect for ourselves by not harming our own bodies, it’s that simple… But I will also say it’s the matter of never giving up if or when we do not listen to these vital signs given to us and end up on the sidelines…
Never Give Up, Never Give In, Never Stop Trying, NEVER EVER GIVE UP!!!