My Running History

I want to share my history with running because in my next post, I will discuss ways to deal and cope with athletic injury, and I want you to know what kinds of  running injuries and issues I have dealt with and overcome. 

My first attempt at running (1999- 2001: Sophomore - Senior year in high school) came to an end at the high school Regional track meet my Senior year when I was forced to accept the fact that my legs would not physically allow me to participate in the 4 x 400 meter relay.  That day was the culmination of 2.5 years of botched attempts to run with forced intermissions of varying lengths due to a mysterious, persistent injury or condition which (since never really diagnosed) I termed 'Achey Leg Syndrome'

From age 9, I swam summer league (May- July)  and took dance lessons the rest of the year.  When I entered high school, I had to make a decision between dance and swimming because high school swim practice and dance lessons conflicted.  To this day, I love to dance, and wish I could have kept up both, but there is no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision by choosing swimming.  I thank my lucky stars for having such a strong swimming background at the beginning of every triathlon!  I also hold the belief that I would never have started running (the first, or second time) if it weren't for swimming.  After all,  I joined my high school cross country team the fall of my Sophomore year for the sole purpose of cross training for swimming.  Cross country quickly became my 'fun' sport.  I got some great cardio cross training for swimming, and met some new friends who I got to spend an hour a day with chatting, laughing, and getting into mischief while we ran on wooded horse and hiking trails.   The first couple months of cross country were great.  Running felt good, and I had fun seeing improvements in my 5 K time.  I never took running as serious as I did swimming, so it really was just a fun new endeavor for me.  Somewhere during month three of my new endeavor, however, my legs began feeling intensely achey all over after a hard run.  After hard practices, and every single race from then on, this painful feeling would take over my legs.  My legs would hurt so bad after a race that after one meet, a couple of my teammates had to carry me to the bus because walking was excruciatingly painful.  I finished that cross country season because I did not want to quit (on principle), and spending time with my new friends was worth the pain.  At the conclusion of the season, however, I said, and believed, I would never run again.  It appeared as though my body just wasn't built to run. 

I spent the following winter and summer swimming as usual and added a fall season of swim practice to fill the void of inactivity during the fall that cross country had filled the previous year.  The end of my Junior year swim season marked 10 consecutive months of swimming, and I wanted a break from swimming until summer league started back up.  I decided to fill those few months by joining the high school track team- NOT as a runner, but as a high jumper.  I heard the team needed female high jumpers, and I had high jumped in 8th grade, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to spend the next few months in a high jump pit with some cute male high jumpers.  I told the track coach that I would high jump for him under one condition: I never ever, under any circumstances had to run- not even as a warm up at the beginning of practice when even the shot putters had to run a lap around the track.  He agreed, so we had a deal!  My Junior year of track went as planned, so when my Senior year rolled around, I committed to another season of high jumping.  My Senior year track experience went exactly like my Junior year had until an afternoon storm canceled a track meet.  Since the meet was canceled, coach made us have practice in the gym.  After changing in the locker room, we entered the gym, and coach told us to start running laps to warm up.  There was no high jump pit to escape to in the gym, so I decided to suck it up and run that day only.  Practice got underway, and it became time for a sprint set.  My competitive nature came out during that sprint set, and I caught the attention of my coach by keeping just a couple steps behind the teams' star sprinter.  Coach pulled me aside after practice and informed me that he would be 'Getting my times on some things at the next practice."  I let coach talk me into running because the season was half way over already, and I knew my training and racing would be geared towards sprint distances.  Despite my hopes that a short period of time, and shorter distances in training and racing would protect me from having those leg pains, by the end of track season, 'Achey Leg Syndrome' struck again.  After about six weeks of training and racing, that post-run leg pain became a part of my existence as a runner once again.  It got so bad, that I couldn't even run the 9 strides it took to get to the high jump mat without the pain shooting through both of my legs.  On the day of the Regional track meet, I traveled to the meet with the team, and coach let me wait until after we got to the track and warmed up to let him know if I felt like I could run in the 4 x 400 relay.  Warming up was painful, and I feared that my legs would literally give out on me if I tried to race.  I didn't want to jeopardise the relay for my other 3 teammates, so I had to pull myself out of the meet.  I had finished the track season to the best of my physical ability, and again, uttered the words "I will never run again."

Fast forward to 2008, and the events that led to my second attempt at becoming a runner.  After my collegiate swim career came to an end my Senior year (2005), I took a full year and a half off of exercise all together.  Swimming and running were the only sports I was ever really good at.  I needed a break from swimming, and, although it had been 4 years since I had felt that intense ache in my legs, there were permanent mental scars from my previous attempts to be a runner.  In my mind, those were my only two options for exercise.  After putting on 15 pounds within a year and a half, I decided to join the YMCA and do group exercise classes.  I had a lot of fun doing step aerobics classes, but my need for competition was not being met.  I still was not mentally excited to pick up swimming again, so for some reason I started running.  I supplemented about 1 run a week (often skipping two or three weeks at a time) with my step aerobic classes.  Upon finishing grad school in 2007, I lost my student rate at the YMCA, and decided to drop my membership in 2008.  Running was much cheaper, so I joined a running group and started running more often.  I loved running with a group, but there was always the thought in my mind that any day the 'Achey Leg Syndrome' would return, and I would have to stop running and would never see my new running buddies again.  It has been almost 4 years since my second attempt to become a runner, and I can happily report that the 'Achey Leg Syndrome' has not been a part of my running experience this time around (although, it does still haunt me)!  I have not escaped injury, however.  I have had pain (beyond soreness) in my IT bands, outer calf muscles, and piriformis; sprained my right ankle twice; had extreme tightness in my hips; and fallen to the floor a few times due to a brief sciatic nerve issue. 

If you are a runner, chances are at some point you will have an injury.  My next post will address how I get through and overcome injuries, and provide suggestions for how you can too. 

I hope you have an injury-free week!