Ouch.

McDougall, 2010

I am currently reading Christopher McDougall’s inspirational Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. Born to Run is the product of Christopher’s McDougall’s quest to answer a seemingly simple yet multi-faceted question: “How come my foot hurts?” Whilst weaving an intriguing and gripping tale of his shared journey along the route of running his first ultramarathon in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, Christopher introduces fascinating and inspirational real-life characters who all do their part to inspire the reader to do what humans as a species were born to do—run. (Dubois, 2011)

Running is fun, running is hard, and running can be very, very painful. Statistics show that 8 out of 10 runners will become injured EVERY year.  Think about that for a second, 80% injured, every single year. It is a part of running, as much as new shoes every 400 miles, and it most likely will happen if you are a runner. The book Born to Run begins with him asking the question, 'Why?'. "No invention yet has slowed the carnage," he writes. "Running seemed to be the fitness version of drunk driving: you could get away with it for a while ... but catastrophe was waiting right around the corner." It makes sense, the force put on your legs with every pound of the pavement is three to four times the body's weight. During a 10-mile run, the feet make 15,000 strikes; your knees, feet, and joints are put through a brutal beating. The bigger you are, the harder the beating. (McDougall, 2011)

I think I have been pretty lucky as far as injuries go with my training. I have trained for a full marathon (ran 20 miles on my 29th birthday, a week before my wedding), ran two half marathons, and several shorter races, and never had more than a slight bout of shin splints. New shoes quickly nipped that pesky pain. My sweet husband has had such IT-band problems, he has been forced to have physical therapy, and even stopped twice to stretch out his IT-band during our last half marathon. (And still finished in a time of 1:48:22, but who's bragging). This injury has sidelined him more than once, and I cannot imagine his frustration, or the time he would post if he were able to run straight through without stopping.

Running comes easier to him than it does to me. He is naturally at least a minute per mile faster than me, and I always say he reminds me of a horse on a merry-go-round, quietly and quickly gliding through the air... up and down, up and down. But- he is now injury prone it may seem.

I do not have injuries per say, from running.  I do get hurt from falling. In my first full marathon, I was running along, feeling good, enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather and the race environment. Then suddenly- disaster. A woman in front of me fell, and what did I do? Go around her? Nope. Stop to help her up? I wish. I wasn't paying attention and I went right over the top of her, and landed on my face. I had a skinned knee, bump on my forehead, and bloody hands. I had never fallen before when running, and I was stunned, and everything hurt. It was awful. I kept going, but I had to cut my race short to a half marathon. It was one of the hardest things to do, and I was so upset and disappointed. I set out to do a full marathon, and did a half marathon, with an awful time, I am sure. I never even checked to see what it was. I told my story to one of my sweet friends when I got home and she told me she was proud of me. She said everyone has bad race days. The point was I trained for a full, which is an accomplishment in itself. I try to remind myself of her words when I have bad days, and it always makes me feel better. I am determined to run a full marathon in my lifetime, and have a one in December.

I also end up bloody after long runs. I don't notice during the run, but I do find blood on my feet, and recently, on my shoulder from my Camelback rubbing my skin raw. I don't care, that Camelback is one of the best things I have ever bought for running. No more planting water, searching for a water fountain, or stopping to drink from water in my awful water belt. I run straight through my water breaks, and I love it. I'll rub both my shoulders completely off before I give that thing up.

My socks always end up bloody, too! This has been happening since I started playing soccer. After games from elementary through high school, I always had bloody socks. My toenails are always short, my shoes fit. I just seem to have a knack for hitting the skin just right, and there it is, a bloody, gross sock.

My point is, I can handle a bloody sock, or a skinned knee. I pray I make it throught this training injury-free and go on to complete my first full marathon in December. I pray my sweet husband's IT-band makes it through his training, and he finishes with a time he is excited about, pain free. I pray we are not one of those 8/10 runners, and make it through this year with some bright, shiny medals, and smiles on our faces. Pray for us, too, won't you?