Injury & Recovery

The way I treat a minor ache on a run today looks nothing like how I treated one nine years ago. This is my own shift, not a rule I’m handing anyone else.

Long after my leg had healed, my head hadn’t caught up. This is the slower, quieter story of learning to stop being afraid of every twinge on a run.

A small, nagging ache in my ankle that I brushed off for weeks turned into more time off than I wanted. This is a different, smaller story than the year I lost, but the same kind of mistake.

After close to a year off, my first runs back weren’t triumphant or easy. Here’s what my body and my head actually felt like the day I finally started again.

During my recovery, my physical therapist told me something plain and direct that I didn’t fully listen to. Here’s the conversation, and the corners I cut before it caught up with me.

For close to a year, I didn’t run a single step. This is what it felt like to stop completely, sit with the not knowing, and slowly find my way back to it.