Injuries are humbling…. I think I’ve had every running injury there is at one time or another. A good friend and frequent running partner of mine (Haven’t seen him in a couple of months) we would always start our runs with listing our current ailments. We’d usually end our wallowing with a resigned “It’s always something…”. My current affliction is an Achilles strain. It happened in April in a race in Atlantic City (11k). Love these runs on the boardwalk. About the 5 mile mark I felt soreness in the right Achilles. Compelled to finish strong I ran thru the then “discomfort” without too much problem. I took some time off afterwards – 2 or 3 days and then ran lightly for a week or two afterwards, still with the nagging soreness. I had signed up to do the (May 5th) Broad Street 10 Mile Run well before the achiles problem. By the middle of April I was still hurting but managed to get in enough miles in (35 miles 2 weeks before) to consider still running May 5th. In retrospect I should have passed.

Broad Street was (always is) fun! I told myself that I should take it easy and enjoy the run which I did, for the most part… My “rational self” instructed the irrational knucklehead to be satisfied with 1:35ish. The past few years my 10 mile races (with the exception of Sea Isle which is more an endurance Slog then a run) are under 1:30 – not by much, but “still” under 1:30. Back to BroadStreet… I did pace myself, with just a little discomfort from my achiles. At the 5 mile mark I was @ 44 minutes and feeling very good. A quick calculation, which is always dangerous when running, told me that 1:29 was doable. The Knucklehead took over…I haven’t run since…

I finished @ 1:31 and hobbled back to Wells Fargo Center to find my car, which I was pretty sure I knew where I parked it. 30 minutes in the parking lot, the running gods took pity on me and guided me to my car. A few runners (40 or 50ish) were tailgating next to my car waiting for the traffic to ease. I said hello and commented to them that “this is not the place I thought I parked…” They chuckled and offered me a beer…. I thanked them but declined – Wondering if they were thinking… “is this their fate too?”

My quest for help begun with my former brother-in-law who is an accomplish tri athlete with the Hawaii Ironman in his war chess, (we are still very good friends) he suggested I investigate ART therapy. ART stands for “Active Resistance Therapy”. In essence, it’s a deep tissue application that has you stretching at the same time as the practioner is holding the resisting muscle/tendon. Makes prefect sense and seemed to be effective. But after 3 sessions my Achilles was still no better.

Anyway, here I am, walking around cooper river each day and biking a little. This has been (is) a tough recovery process, especially with all this great running weather. It’s definitely a mental challenge to be away from my runs, but I WILL do my BEST to keep the knucklehead in his place and look forward to a sure to come recovery. – but then again, it’s always something……