SNAPSHOT
Will a recovery ever happen? Yes, but the future will look different than the past in many ways.
DIGGING DEEPER
It took seventeen months to come back. The injury never was figured out even though many doctors tried their best. I knew it wasn't as simple as one aliment. My body is all connected together and this injury took me down in many ways.
There was a moment or a weekend that the despair shifted and there was hope again. A small, tiny, miniscule hope that I one day again would walk without pain. Then after realizing I could walk, I dared to run again. For 30 seconds that is. I thought I was a bird that had escaped from it's cage. Little by little with great caution, I added time and distance to my new norm. There was still pain but it wasn't getting worse. With fear I kept on the road to recovery, not knowing if each run could be the last. The week I got to 55 miles in 7 days and wasn't any worse off, I brought a new Garmin watch. It was my reminder and declaration that I was whole again and could hope for the future. Two months later, I embarked on the first real speed workout with training partners by my side. The pace was slow but they reassured me it would drop down to what use to be natural for me.
TODAY was the day that I ran the 8x400 at 5:20 mile pace that I once knew. I wrote on my driveway in my daughter's sidewalk chalk, "COMING BACK 8x400 @5:20." In the past my humility would have kept the chalk off the driveway, but these last 17 months have taught me to enjoy today's accomplishments. They are valuable.
SOLUTION
Don't wish away the great accomplishments of today.
