Why Runners Don’t Talk About Injury
It’s the ultimate enigma. The one topic that every single issue of every single running magazine in existence covers, and yet no one ever talks about.
Injury.
I feel like I should make that big and bold and centered.
I’m injured, people!!!
Okay, so that’s not exactly a surprise to anyone who reads this blog or has encountered me personally over the past 6 months. (That includes you, HEB grocery store cashier. I am buying three different styles of ankle brace and a bottle of off-brand Ibuprofen because I am an injured runner. This is very different from a “meth addict”.)
- Early morning workout alarms? — Only if Jeanine dragged my butt to spin class.
- The running magazines I used to read cover to cover? — Unread and overflowing two magazine racks.
- My perception of my “healthy social life”? — Shot to pieces as I wallowed in jealousy over my running friends making NEW running friends.
Injury is my least favorite topic, personally and within the pages of Running Times. I’d rather publish inspiring stories of success than dwell on all the aches and pains that beset us.
But the fact remains: Most runners get injured.
Despite the fact that it is ridiculously irritating to have a non-runner comment that “running is going to destroy your knees”, the truth is that doing the same motion over and over and over for days and weeks and months and years on end is inevitably going to cause a little wear and tear. If not to the knees, then to the ankles, or the hips, or the back…
The other truth, and the one we like to admit even less, is that we runners are a fragile sort. And I don’t mean physically.
We don’t just like to run. We need to run. It’s who we are – part of our identity. It’s stress relief, anger management, the boost for a weak ego. It’s our hobby and our social circle and our goals for the future. I guess I can’t really speak for every runner out there, but I can speak for myself.
Running was EVERYTHING to me.
On the morning of my wedding? I organized a GROUP RUN. (And yes, hobbled around the dance floor as a result.)
And because running is so much–so everything–to us, we can’t handle the thought that it could be taken away. We’d rather read about the guy setting records on prosthetic legs than Desiree Davila fighting her way back from the stress fracture that knocked her out of the Olympic marathon.
Why? Because if we can’t imagine missing a long run, the idea of dropping out of the Olympics might just kill us dead.
Only problem is, the miracle story isn’t always the one that features the hero. (Side note: WTF, Oscar Pistorius???)
No, I’m not saying you should admire me, Desiree Davila, or any other runner just because he or she happens to be injured. But please, please, please…don’t stop thinking of us as runners just because you haven’t been seeing us at 5:30 Wednesday mornings.
And double-please, don’t complain to us about not quite acing your speed workout or having to miss a run or two due to family obligations. Yes, those are 100% valid things to complain about, but your injured runner friend would likely give their left leg below the knee to be able to run just one 12-minute mile. (After all, that Pistorius guy was pretty successful before he went totally batsh*t.)
Yes, it’s hard. And no, not even runners who successfully come back from injury (so…all of us) will ever be good at accepting that it happens. But acceptance is the first step on the road to recovery. So let’s all take a cue from Jonathan Beverly:
And while I still think the best place for detailed advice about specific injuries is on our website…
(okay, so he’s not quite 100% there…)
…we won’t shy away from injury in our pages either. Instead we’ll see it as part of the success stories we celebrate, in our heroes and ourselves.
Running Fiesta 