I started running in 2006 with the couch-to-5k program. It’s a straight forward 8 week training program that took me from gasping for breath after 90 seconds of continuous running to being able to steadily run 5km without stopping.
For a long time, running was my only source of fitness. I had a dog that needed walking anyway, so even when life was super busy I could multi-task. I never felt more like a bad-ass single parent that on the days I managed to run with the stroller + dog to daycare, drop the kiddo off, continue my loop back home with the dog, shower, change and be at my desk working by 8:30am.
After almost 10 years of running I can safely say that I have minimal natural running talent. I’m slow and that’s okay. I take a strange sort of pride in sticking with something that I’m clearly not very good at. I love the simplicity of running. No class to fit into the schedule or membership needed.
Unfortunately, my relationship with running shoes is filled with drama. After running for 4-6 months on a set of shoes I’ll notice my hip and knee starting to ache indicating that it is time to replace the worn out pair. Because running shoe fashions change, I can rarely find the same model to replace the worn. More than once I’ve wasted money on new shoes that set me on the biomechanical path to plantar fasciitis within a week. Maybe I just have super special snowflake princess feet – 2 years post-bunion surgery, the right one has enough scars and imbedded hardware to qualify as a special snowflake princess franken-foot. Whatever the cause, it is incredibly frustrating.
This week my body feels like a broken down car. I can’t blame it all on the bad shoes, but they are responsible for a decent share. I’m a mess literally from head to foot. As I lay in bed this morning and took inventory:
- Aching eyes – I need reading glasses or less internet. Probably both.
- Left rotator cuff – Been slacking on rehab exercises and it shows.
- Low back pain – showed up when I started doing silks. Need to research yoga poses.
- Right hip – Bad shoes.
- Right plantar fascia – Bad shoes continued.
The above combination also means I’m sleeping like crap and can easily start to spiral downward. It Expands beyond my physical self I’m self-flagellating with all my flaws. I procrastinate. I’m careless. I’d rather eat cheese and muffins than carrots and turnips. What’s the point of all this exercise if everything is just going to break?
Thankfully, breakfast and the full light of day usually helps. Nothing to do but keep moving and trust that this is just a bump in the road.
