Finding Hope in the Valley: Navigating Years of Injury and the Ache to Run

This week's post is going to be relatively short and simple—hopefully something that brings a little encouragement to any reader who happens to come across it, especially if you’re dealing with a series of injuries that have kept you sidelined for literal years like mine have. I have a few other posts in the works that just aren't quite ready yet. I wish they were, but they're getting there!

For today, though, I just wanted to take a minute and chat with you about that heavy feeling of dread and sadness that creeps in when you are plagued with injury.

It feels like injury after injury keeps hitting you, like a constant, frustrating drip from a hidden leak where you don't even know where the water is coming from. Trust me, I get it. Over the last 5 to 6 years, it feels like I’ve been hit with so many injuries that I've almost forgotten what it's like to run pain-free.

I have definitely gotten down on myself about the weight I’ve gained, and wondered why I’m unable to drop it no matter what other forms of exercise I try while running is off the table. I get it. I go in and out of feeling like I am making great strides one day, only to take 100 steps backward the next. I’ll get myself so excited about possibly signing up for a race, just to realize that I’m still not healed enough to actually train for it and do it.

I really miss running.

Running has always been there for me. It was the place I could go to just let my brain check out and let my body take over. So the fact that I haven't been able to do it pain-free for years... well, it sucks, to put it kindly.

And right now, I can tell that I’m sitting right in one of those deep valleys where it feels like I will never get back to it. I know I’m tired, and fatigue does a number on your brain, but I still catch myself getting down on myself.

Even so, I know what I have to do. I just have to pick myself up, lean on those around me, and keep my eyes on the horizon.

I will be running again one day soon, and so will you. What it looks like may be different. But it will happen.