My body is like wack-a-mole when it come to running injuries. One goes away and another pops right up. It all began less than a year ago when I started taking running seriously. At first I was running twice a week. Things seemed pretty good, so I decided to up my running game to three times a week. Things still seemed pretty good, until I started to notice pain in my shins. Some weird inner demon of stubbornness told me to ignore this pain in my shin, claiming that it will go away if I keep running. So that is exactly what I did.

In my defense, I did buy new shoes thinking that fancy footwear would solve my pain problem. It didn’t.

After running a couple months and over 100 kilometers with pain in my shins, I got to the point where I could no longer walk up stairs without wincing. At this point I was starting to get worried. It was time for Doctor Google.

I cleverly self-diagnosed shin splints, one of the most common injuries for runners. The treatment? Stop running! It said it could take up to three months to fully heal.

I’m not gonna lie, I was a bit heartbroken. I had FINALLY gotten into running and now I have to take a three month hiatus? Not cool. But alas, Doctor Google had spoken. No more running.

Two and half months passed and my three month healing deadline was almost up when I had the bright idea of visiting an actual doctor. I was really just hoping to get the OK to get back to running again, so I dragged my butt over to a physiotherapist thinking I would hear a repeat of my trusty Doctor Google’s diagnosis. I was wrong.

Apparently my issue had nothing to do with shin splints and in fact my pain was due to the fact that I was un-flexible. The nerve running down my lower back to my legs was very short and inflexible which resulted in me feeling sharp pain in my shin area every time my legs banged the ground. The solution? Stretching.

Basically, I had stopped running for almost three months, when all I needed to do was perform
several different approved leg stretches throughout the day until I had the flexibility needed to run. So I stretched and flexed and put my running shoes back on. To my amazement the pain subsided. I upped my running to four or five times a week. I started tackling longer runs, more 10k and 15k. I finally felt like a serious runner, but my knees apparently did not.

This week, several weeks after upping my running game I noticed I was feeling some pretty severe pain in my knees and it was always after I had passed the 7-8 kilometer mark. NOT AGAIN.

It’s time to take a step back. After a quick Google search on runners’ knee pain (have I learned nothing?) I discover that I need to start doing strength training on my hips and glutes to make sure they are taking part of the heat when I run. Also, if I know that my knees hurt at 8 kilometers, then I need to not run more than 8 kilometers. I will try a couple weeks of scaling back and strength training (even though I can’t feel my butt for days after I train) if the pain persists I will go, yet again, to the physiotherapist.

The solution seems simple enough, yet it’s incredibly challenging for me mentally. I feel like I just graduated to the “big girl bike” of running and now I have to go and put my training wheels back on.

How do I deal with the frustration of going backwards instead of forwards? By succeeding at the small things instead of failing at the big ones. I had spent so much time trying to over-achieve and become a better marathon-worthy runner, but I kept facing frustration when I wasn’t succeeding due to injury and over-use.

The moral of this story is that when you realize your capabilities and respect them, then you are setting yourself up to succeed in a much healthier way. It’s ok to take the stairs one a time, because you will still get to the top. And maybe next time you can take them two at time, because you will have already succeeded one the first time.

For me, this applies to running, but it also applies to life itself. It’s a friendly reminder to not bite off more than you can chew.
I’m not saying that you should change your goals, I’m just suggesting that’s it’s ok to find different alternative routes to reaching that goal. Ones where you respect yourself and your abilities. The journey doesn’t have to suck.

So here’s to an injury-free marathon! Here’s to succeeding in your goals!
I may run slow… but at least I run.