This running thing is hard.
After some stutter-step starts last fall—then a few more months of walking instead of running—I’ve started to add more rapid movement back into my workout mix (along with swimming, strength training an hour/week, and pickleball). The track doesn’t call to me, so I hit the streets. I start with several blocks of walking, then I run at a very conservative pace for a block.
My pickleball game moved up a few notches when I joined a weekly women’s league in January.
Within steps, I am breathing heavily; the stop sign seems like a mirage I’ll never reach. Above the din of “The Daily” podcast, my brain keeps shouting, “This is hard! Make it stop! This is hard! Make it stop!”
Also-injured Trisha (right) and I taking a pause during a pool-running session.
I’ve never been sidelined from running for so long—I am coming up on 11 months, and my cardio system is in the red. I am panting like my smushed-face Frenchie after a trip to the dog park, and my steps are lumbering. Nothing feels easy. It isn’t fun.
A Peloton bike at a hotel provided the first hard sweat I’d worked up in months (and months!).
Yet I persevere; my identity and my daily outlook depends on it. I want to cruise my Portland neighborhood like I used to, on the hunt for #foundchange, admiring street murals and blooming trees. I tell myself I have to only run five block-long intervals in a 45-minute walk. After two or three weeks of three walk-runs/week—and adding some 100-yard speedier intervals into my swim sessions to bolster my heart and lungs—my legs feel slightly less cement-like despite my lungs still wanting to jump out of my body. I stretch my run intervals to two blocks.
By early March, on a field trip to Pittsburgh, I felt legit enough to wear our RUNNER RUNNER hat!
One drizzly morning, I unconsciously slow down even more than I have been going. When I reach the end of the second block, the thought of running a third block doesn’t fill me with dread. A slight smile creeps across my rain-streaked face—I am making progress in the cardiovascular category!
At long last: Being able to go far enough to see some new street art.
I slow to a walk at the end of the third block, and only do a few more running intervals. I’ve sat on the sidelines too long to ramp back up too quickly. Plus, my sore, slightly swollen left knee is improving thanks to wearing a GO Sleeves brace while running and playing pickleball but, again, I’m not going to push things.
Slow and steady wins the race…or at least makes me pant a whole lot less.
As much as I try to find something that is like running, there just isn’t anything that makes me feel the way running did. I miss it so much! I’m glad it’s coming “back” to you, Sarah! (Pun intended)
Thanks for being so open. This story brings me hope, Sarah, and I need it. I’ve been side-lined for a few weeks now, and the stir crazy is setting in as well as the ‘I’ll never run again’ mantra. I hope to have a comeback soon.
This running thing IS hard. After ~5 months of PT post ankle destruction, I got the green light to run 30 sec, walk 2 min in March. For me, it’s the smashy-smash of the impact that’s requiring patience. I just moved up to 2 min run, 4 min walk yesterday. The return of running to my life is starting to feel more real!