Goodbye Doctor

While leaving the sports medicine doctor today,I felt a sense of relief and happiness. It has been a long time since I left the doctor feeling healed. It's an amazing feeling. It appears that everything is beginning to fall in place. Runs are getting easier. (Easier, not easy!) The chiropractor has me down to once a month and the sports med doc doesn't want to see me again unless I have a new problem. Such relief!

As I was getting in my car, I reflected on 2010: the year of injuries. Really 2010's injuries are the fault of 2009: the year of the marathon. Three full marathons and five half marathons. Of course, that was only my second year running, too. Probably not smart, but what a fun year it was!

Back to 2010. The year of injuries could also be called the year of tears. Your choice. I started off the year by taking six weeks off to let my body relax. I thought that was smart of me. It wasn't enough, though. Run after run, I quit in the middle. I couldn't keep up with my pace group. I would walk back to the start not completing the mileage. The pain was unbearable. My hips hurt, my foot hurt, and my piriformis syndrome was killing me. By mid March, I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Orthotics. I thought that would fix me. I had hope. I trained on.

 My foot began to feel better, but not good. I continued to show up to runs, but no improvement in my performance. That reminds me that I have another name for 2010: the year of zero PR's. I finished the mini-marathon in 2:08, six minutes slower than my PR. Considering how I had trained, that was nothing short of a miracle. However, it still didn't feel good because I didn't feel good. Pain was everywhere and I had another race in two weeks. Still, I thought I could get a PR. It was like I had a second chance.

Race day came. How I wanted a PR. I really wanted to show myself I was improving and that my hard work was paying off even with everything I had been through. Race day ended. 2:17. That was the worst time I had ever had. With some coaxing from fellow runners that day, I decided to try physical therapy. I ended up spending the summer in physical therapy. It helped, no doubt. It even made me feel good. But, I had an October race and I knew I would barely have time to prepare for it. So when I made it to race day, there was definitely no PR there. I was happy to be back, yet still discouraged because I didn't know if I would ever improve. In fact, I had a lot of my old pains right after finishing the race. I was sure they would go away if I took it easy. Not true, though.

December came and I was back in the sports medicine doctor's office again. This time, I got a cortisone shot and waited. I also decided to go to the chiropractor. Having already signed up for Grandma's Marathon, about this time is also when I decided that it would be my last marathon. I knew I couldn't keep going through this year after year. 2010 was the year of injuries and tears.

So, walking out of the sports med office today, I felt great. I am actually looking forward to 2011. No more doctor visits, no more bad runs day after day. 2011 is an exciting year.