5 Days until OBX

Day 5 of my OBX countdown is just about complete and has me thinking about injuries again. No, there are no new injuries for me to report. The injuries that I am thinking about took place in the years past.

It was in the fall of '07 and in August I had signed up for 4 races: a 5k, two back to back ½ marathons on different weekends and another 5k. Then low and behold, during a trail run I twisted my foot in an awkward direction which made running anything but fun.

For days, I limped along or if viewed from the side, it appeared as if I were dragging one leg along.

Well, those race days got close and while my foot was improving, it still hurt like you would not believe.

But, I had entered these 4 races, and I wasn't about to skip them.

With the 5k up first, I loaded up on Advil before the race and went for a little warm. "Ouch" definitely, this was going to be more difficult than I thought.

Then surprisingly when the race started the pain was not nearly as bad. In fact, it was tolerable. I finished race and actually won it with a 17 something time. But once I finished, I could barely walk back to my car.

A week later, I was in Badin for the first ½ marathon. If you have ever run the Badin race, you know the roads are terribly slanted and Morrow Mt. is tough both going up and coming down. Again, I loaded up on Advil and took it out fairly easy. Working my up and trying not to think about the pain.

I finished in 1:22 and I was happy to just be finished.

Next week, I was in Davidson for the ½ marathon. My foot was not feeling much better and I was saying "Ouch" with each stride. But when you are leading a race, sometime it is easier to push through the pain. I finished in 1:21 which was almost a minute faster than the race in Badin.

By the final 5k in the forth week, either the pain was lessoning or I was just taking enough of the Advil that I could not feel the pain. I pulled out a victory and won $100 dollars in cash.

I share this story because unless someone ask me or knows me very well, they will never know that I am injured. I tend to keep my life and my running for the most part private.

But in running and racing when injured it illustrates a point about mental toughness. And, I have many people tell me that I am mentally tough. In actuality I don't view myself as being mentally tough. I view it as commitment to achieving a goal. And goals are a necessary part of life that keeps us motivated.

 

Tales of a motivated runner