"The Injury"

I am not a professional runner, nor a professional sporter.

Instead I see myself as so dedicated & motivated that my willpower will take over off my experience.

So far so good, I a an occasional runner, doing a lot of yoga, so I a not at all in a bad shape.

But training for a marathon is far more than that.

My first injury was last year 2016, a sprained ankle, it was in mid summer, while I was running I fell down and before I knew I was lying on the street and the pain was killing me.

But as dedicated as I am, after 5 minutes, I was running again, because it were my first 10 km and I would'nt miss it for anything in the world.

Not such a good idea, the pain afterwords was unbearable...

The day after, I had to go to the hospital, i could not move anymore, I was dying....

The verdict was not nice: a plaster!

And not running anymore...

It was the hell for me! No running, no moving....

But end good all good, it healed well and my running was back.

When I decided to run the marathon of New York, my training had become more frequently.

So the risk was higher for an injury.

When I bought my new running shoes, I had a long run of 20 km.

Afterwords, when I did my short runs, the pain started in my achilles heel.

I thought it was because of my new running shoes, so I kept running on my old shoes, that didn't hurt me the first time. 

When it was training day, the big day, a big long run from 30 km, I was really trained, focused and ready to run, but the moment I put on my new shoes, the pain was so strong, I already felt inside that this was not a good run feeling.

But nevertheless, I went to training day, to get all the information that I needed for the big day

"The marathon of New York", a fysiotherapist was walking next to me, so for me the perfect time & place to ask him the big question: can I run now with this pain on my achilles?

His answer was hard & cold but so true: "you can run now and forget the marathon or you can rest now and run the marathon", I've choosen option 2.

So for me that was a "black sunday" :-(

But always keeping the mind positive, I did an alternative training that day on the hometrainer.

The next day, I went running with my old shoes, it was good, no pain, me happy :-)

The day after the next day, I went for a run, but the pain started again: so I did listen to my body and I chose to cycle instead of running.

I have a good fysiotherapist, who helpes me to solve the pain and for now I have to be happy with my alternative training and I must have faith that it will all heal and work out for the best.

The lesson I've learned from this and my advice to you all is:

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!!!!

If you have pain or you feel anything that is not good during your run, stop and go to the doctor or fysiotherapist and let them help you and start an alternative training.

Because when it is acute, it can be solved, when it becomes chronic, you have a problem.

BUT NEVER GIVE UP!

AND KEEP LIVING YOUR DREAM & HAVE FAITH :-)

Els

Xo