Reflection: 1 Year Post-Injury

I took a few moments to reflect today. Reflect on where I was 1 year ago, and everything that brought me to today.

This time last year I felt depressed, broken, without direction. Every injury is different, but they all take a similar mental toll on an athlete. Take away a person’s outlet, drive, purpose, and you take away a piece of their soul.

Again, I must thank all of you who supported me and encouraged me during that time. It was hard, but you made it a little easier.

I started in January with the goal of running 10k without pain. Gradually I worked up to 21k by June. The process was not linear, but I was always moving forward. The whole time I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to conquer another marathon. I questioned whether my body would allow it, and slowly crept up my runs without revealing my plan.

My first marathon was rough. I ran it in Toronto with my husband back in 2015. We started training early in the summer with no real base, and we both had one simple goal: to run 42k. I crossed the finish line at 4:25, tears streaming down my face, proud of my accomplishment, but also vowing not to do another.

There is nothing like being told you CAN’T to make you say I WILL. I can’t run? Watch me.

I have never trained as hard as I have over the last 16 weeks, and I have never been more proud of how far I have come as a runner. I pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of, and finished every run thirsting for more. Faster. Farther. Stronger.

Of course, life is never simple. Sometimes it rains on race day, but in my case I fell last week and bruised my ribs. Yup. It hurts to breathe deeply. All I can do at this point is shake my head and hope that by Sunday everything will be okay.

Whatever happens on race day, nothing can take away the feeling of accomplishment that comes with a successful training cycle. I’m grateful for every win and every fall because these are the things that have made me the runner I am.

See you on the road.