How many times have you heard the phrase, “injury recovery is not linear?” If you’re like me, quite a few times. And you give a small sigh and resigned nod, “I know” and promise you’ll be patient. Injured athletes know this and secretly hope that this time it’ll be different. I’ve been battling an injury…
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2020 in Review (haha), 2021 in Preview
Read moreI almost didn’t write this post because… do we really want to review the dumpster fire of 2020?? But maintaining this small tradition is a tiny sense of normalcy that I needed to start off 2021 right, and there were some good things that happened. As always, let’s start with the numbers! Stats: 1,730 miles…
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Injury Update and Goal (and Life) Adjustment in 2020
Read moreYou may have noticed things have been a bit quiet on the blog. The big reason is that in the face of a global pandemic and an (overdue) societal focus on systemic racism, it felt colossally insensitive to publish posts about adventures and whisky like everything was normal. (Whatever normal even means anymore.) However, I…
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Are You An Injured Runner? It’s Going To Be Okay.
Read moreIt’s been over 17 weeks since Javelina (but who’s counting?) And I’ve been healing from one of my patented Vague Soft Tissue Injuries ®, that take forever to heal. Immediately post-race I had a strain in my left tensor fasciae latae that made even walking extremely painful. For those unfamiliar, the TFL is a small…
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8 Things Every Runner Needs to Know About Physical Therapy
Read moreWe all know that going to WebMD when something hurts is a terrible idea. But do we do it anyway? Of course. Let’s be honest, nothing good comes out of that. Searching “knee pain after running” will leave you with the alarming impression that you have kneecap cancer and your leg is going to fall…
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The Challenge for an Injured Runner: Patience or Persistence?
Read moreRunning injuries are interesting (in an abstract sort of way) in how they so easily can throw off an athlete. I don’t think I’m alone in this, but when I’m dealing with an injury, I feel off-balance. Like a table missing a leg. As a strong, determined woman of action, my response is to fix…
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Harry’s Ridge Trail: Solitude and Wildflowers at Mount St. Helens
Read moreI recently had an extra day off during the week and decided to put it to good use with a mini solo adventure to a new (to me) place. As I’m still recovering from a mysterious yet persistent knee injury, I couldn’t do massive miles out on the trails….so I chose to visit Mount St.…
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The Emotions of Injury: My Internal Dialogue
Read moreI think every runner knows the feeling. You’re running merrily along and all of a sudden you feel a zing of pain. It might be in your knee, ankle, shin, hip, whatever. You think, at first, huh, that’s weird. I’m sure that was an anomaly. Must have stepped wrong. Then you continue on and the pain…
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Reflection on Injury: Patience, Presence, and Grit (or lack thereof)
Read moreI’ve probably started and deleted this post a half dozen times already. What news to share when the healing process feels glacially slow? (For a reference, it’s now been 11 weeks since the initial pain in my leg began and 7 weeks since I started physical therapy.) I doubt you really want to hear me gripe on…
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Balm for the Soul
Read moreThe past few weeks at work have been very busy and tiring. Not bad, just…exhausting. Everyone had reached the end of their rope and we were hanging on by our fingernails. So, a long weekend did not come amiss! Really, all I wanted to do was either go sit on a mountaintop by myself or…
