Most of my blogs have a comedic tone, unfortunately, this will not. I take that back. I guess humor describes my failed attempt to train for a marathon when I was told not to run. Another word I would use for this humor, stupidity.
After months of pain and attempting to take it easy, I received the news that I will once again have knee surgery. Unfortunately this isn’t my first rodeo going under the knife, hell; it isn’t even my second rodeo. I have what the doctor’s like to describe as a type A personality also known as no off switch. I hate admitting defeat to others and especially to myself. So when in pain, I keep going, especially, in competition.
After my second knee surgery, my doctor told me I shouldn’t run.
“So how am I going to work out?” I asked.
“Swim and Bike.”
“ Hmm….I’ve never done a triathlon. You’re saying I can do that?
“No Ashleigh. I’m saying you can do a dual –a- thon.”
“Well why? We already know I can run, so that will be the easy part. “
“Get out of my office.”
This may seem like an easy task for many. Majority of my friends hate running. After my first knee surgery prevented my dream of playing college tennis, it became the thing I treasured most.
I crave running. Runners will describe it as an itch. Feet contact with the pavement cures this hankering. If they don’t, we get extremely antsy. Ask anyone that has lived with me?
When I got in a horrendous car wreck in college, the doctor ordered me to bed rest and absolutely no running. One day of rest and I was out the door. The next day, my roommate Lindsay hid my running shoes – which began my very brief encounter with barefoot running.
If I ever think I’m too busy for a run, I remember Sarah Condor’s quote, “Remember the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running."
I sacrificed sleep, toenails, vodka-waters and even a relationship for running. True. My ex-boyfriend didn’t understand the appeal of training for a marathon and therefore I lost my appeal for him. It's an activity where the only adversary that matters is the competition you have with yourself.
Stressful day. I run. Can’t sleep. Run. Writer’s block. Run. Frustrated with that guy and trying not to text him, again. Run. Drunk ate that entire pizza from Zinis. Run.
It’s been said hours of clear-headedness follow a long run.
So what do I do after being told not to run? Train for a marathon. It’s been a dream of mine; I have completed half-marathons and this was the next obvious step in the equation. Obviously, clear-headedness is not what I would label this choice.
My roommate, Erica, and I promised one another that we would run the White Rock Marathon together. She kept that vow and I did not.
Honestly, I knew something was wrong months previous to the final 20 mile run around White Rock Lake. In attempting to fix the situation, I slowed down my pace and even took some time off. After going out and having my knee collapse on me, my friends carried out an intervention. At a Sting concert, (Yes STING, don’t act like you don’t jam out to old-school Police), my most logical lawyer friend Lauren said, “Ash, how are you going to run 26.2 miles, if you can’t even walk downstairs.”
This lawyer argued her case well. After months of training, I couldn’t go on. One day you run 20 miles and the next going downstairs required extreme effort. My friends were right and even worse so were the doctors.
I say doctors because I saw many. I hesitated visiting the surgeon who has known me since I was 13 years old. I knew what he would say and frankly my heart wasn’t prepared for that diagnosis. Well, until this week.
So after months of training together, Erica crossed the finish line on December 4th. I cheered her on at mile 5, 11, 16 and 26.2. Was it one of the hardest things I’ve ever done? Yes. Did I cry? Oh you bet. But, it was amazing to see her fulfill this accomplishment, what we both trained for and I’m happy that one of us can say they did it. Being a morning person, at least I can say that I helped keep her entertained on those 5am runs with my useless knowledge, especially during shark week.
In 2012, the glass will be half-full. In turning a negative into a positive, I will take this challenge head on.
I’m looking forward to a forced rest and catching up on those episodes of Dexter and Modern Family. The Game of Thrones series, always wanted to read them. Of course, my newfound love of blogging.
Hell, I’ll even get stronger in CrossFit. The coaches always told me that running burns muscles – here’s to keeping my strength.
And you know what; at least I’ll get some free drinks when I go out to the bars. It worked the last time I had surgery and my friends enjoyed the sympathy shots as well. Jocelyn, one of my best friends, and I were reminiscing about it today – men love a woman in crutches.
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