Happy Spring! Looking outside at the fresh snow on bare
branches, hearing sleet pinging on the windows, and with mountains of snow
still here from last week’s storm, I can’t say it looks or feels like Spring.
But just knowing that warmer temps and mud season are indeed just around the
corner makes me feel a little lighter.
What else is making me feel lighter? I’m running outside
again! Hooray! My back is healing well and I’m slowly getting some more miles
under me. The final report after a handful of tests was in a nutshell:
·
Diagnosis: Shit happens.
·
Prognosis: Shit may happen again, or it may not.
·
Treatment: Deal with it.
You know what? I’ll take it. I’m so happy to be running
again after almost a solid 4 months off that any time I step outside for a run,
however hard, feels like a gift. I know the joy of it will begin to wear off
over time, but right now even running a measly 2 miles in 7 degree temperatures (feels like 10
below), with wind blasting at my face and ice under my feet, I can’t seem to
wipe the smile off my face. This is me after said run:
Make no mistake, I have a long way to go in regaining speed
and endurance. A loooonnngg way. But I’m up for the challenge. And, I’ve
learned some important lessons through this process. Here are the top three
lessons learned:
1. Stretching is not optional for me. So, apparently I
have abnormally tight muscles, according to pretty much every specialist I saw
(doctors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, heck, even the
radiologist running a scan on me). Whether it has to do with my often poor
posture, lack of stretching over the years, or genetics, I just have tight
muscles, and that’s not good. Making time for stretching and/or yoga will need
to be a priority for me if I want to stay injury-free. This will be the year
that I grow to like yoga, darn it.
2. It’s all about perspective. If someone
had told me a year ago that I’d be spending most of this winter either not
running, or running on a treadmill in my dark, dank basement I would have
thought “what a major bummer.” But by the time I could try running on the
treadmill, I hadn’t run in so long that I pretty much skipped right up to the
machine and gave it a giant kiss before starting it up. And I found it to be
fabulous! With a little help from my friend at Running With Music, I got some
great new music, popped in my head phones and actually enjoyed every minute of
it. Forget “dread-mill,” more like, “Can-I-get-a-Hallelujah-mill.”
3. Keep it light. I’ll be the first to
admit, last year was a bit of a stressful year for me, and I let it creep into
all aspects of my life, including running. Last spring, I went from being a
stay-at-home mom and fitness instructor on the side to starting a business with
my husband. This was a decision that set off many other changes for our family
that in the end are helping us live our dream, but caused some stress and
uncertainty while in the middle of it. Looking back I can say that while
running functioned as my stress release, I ended up putting pressure on myself
to reach certain racing goals, and that pressure contributed to an
injury and therefore took away my main form of stress release. Darn catch-22. Now that
I’m running again, I’m realizing that what I love about running is running
itself, and racing is just a fun thing to do to share the excitement of running
with others. Period. No pressure needed. I’m not training for the Olympics, I’m
pushing 40, and I’m going to need running in my life for a long time. I don’t
need to get any personal records to prove that I love to run. All I need is a
good pair of sneakers, running friends, and the road ahead. I'll still race, but only for the fun of it.
Wishing you all happy, wet, muddy spring running! Yee-haa!
