As time passes and the world seems to be passing us by its hard not to reflect on ourselves, hard not to look deeper and deeper within. I know that running is mostly a solitary activity and gives us time to breath, but it also keeps our minds off of our everyday lives.
The light at the end of the tunnel exists only as long as you look for it, and as in my last post and in the comments of those who kindly post with me, having a paid entry into a race keeps that bulb shining brightly. Even though we know its impossible to expect to recover and get back into the race, we also know that we were capable of doing it, hence the light shines.
The longer we sit back and are forced to stay idle, the other parts of our lives that running held at bay (at least for a 40+ runner) start to become important, weight gain, lack of conditioning, even the loss of support from our families and friends for our ‘foolish’ running.
“why not hang up the shoes, its time to slow down, how long can you run for anyhow, you deserve a rest”, even though they appear to be positive comments, giving the all clear to slow down, relax, take it easy, to someone that enjoys running and the health benefits that come along with it, they dim that bulb at the end of the tunnel.
Sure I could sit back, watching myself gain weight, watching other people run or bike, but somewhere deep inside watching someone suffering as they run the streets is actually uplifting, yes I would like to be that person, sure its painful, but life is not fair, and we have to suffer to get the things that are really important to us.
I cant see any improvement in my Achilles, but its only been a few weeks, I see a day when the swelling retreats, but then it returns, and today it hurts even in the boot, but I cant give up. My entry fee for Grandmas Marathon is now a wasted expense, but really, is it? I ran 26.2 miles, and unlike people say, the first 26 are NOT easy, and the last .2 are NOT the hardest, in fact the last .2 are the easiest, the finish line is right there, our bodies kick into gear and push us over the line in euphoria , I MADE IT!!! Well recovering from this injury is like being on that journey, which is why the Achilles blog has the marathon ‘recovery’ race on its homepage. At first I thought it was kind of funny, but now I fully understand.
The light at the end of the tunnel shines brightly for all of us, we just have to open our eyes and look for it, we are all here to lend a hand (or at least a blog reply) and will do what we can to make it through. My injury was only a tear, a miniscule injury for this site, I only hope that this ‘band of brothers and sisters’ can get us through it.
We may even meet on the race course without ever knowing it, my twitter account it pkmarathon , maybe we can run together someday with shirts that say “Running is a real pain in the A…..chilles’ or something, anyway enough of my rambling have a great valentines day!!
7 Comments »
well poop!
