You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

Before my doc asked me to quit running, I liked running but it didn’t like me. I could get shin splints in a half mile. I suffered with daily back pain. So when the doctor suggested I stop running so he could fix my back, I reluctantly agreed -- with a twinge of relief.

Every so often, I would try to run again. Even if my back played along other parts of my body would fight back. I would feel the shin splints. The cartilage under my kneecaps has been shredded from catching fast-pitch softball in high school. So besides that crushed glass sound my knees make when they bend, a half-mile run would leave my knees screaming at me for 10 days.

I had never been a great runner. Check that: I was always painfully S….L….O….W. I played high school and college sports, but made sure the sports required sprints not miles. 2 or 3 miles was about all I could manage and toward the end of my earlier running days, I welcomed every traffic light I could find.

During running purgatory, I discovered the bike, thanks to my husband, the Colonel. I loved it, but as any runner knows, the endorphin release you get from a bike vs. running is like the difference between a Chevrolet Aveo and a Mercedes Benz.

The more time that went by that I could no longer run, the more I missed it. Why, I’m not sure really. It only caused me pain. I’d run only two races in my life – a 9.6 mile run and a 10K and both were miserable experiences. I developed performance anxiety and got psyched out not psyched up. So by race time, I was exhausted. I think it was my desire to compete, along with the reality that I might be able to beat the walkers – if I really pushed it.

Or maybe it’s my sister’s fault. She began running with her husband about 8 years ago and has done a couple of marathons. She isn’t fast either – must be a genetic thing – but she would go on and on about the race atmosphere. She made it sound fun again.

Two years later, while doing an Internet search for something with “chi” in it, up popped a book called, ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer. (OK, let me say right here and now, I don’t intend to use this blog to specifically promote Chirunning. But here’s the thing – it’s been so amazing for me that I’m sure it will work its way into my entries more often than not. Don’t we all get excited about anything that helps us run better?)

Run pain-free and injury-free it said. At this point, I'd have stood on my head an hour a day if I thought it would get me running again. I bought the book, and it made total sense. We get hurt for only two reasons – poor biomechanics and/or doing too much too soon. I was guilty of both – and often still am at least of the latter (another story for later). Then I bought the DVD. Then I took a workshop. Most of the instructors then were from California, but I found a class in Baltimore. So I hopped on a flight one night, took the class and a flight home the next day and have been running ever since.

Can I say I’ve run pain free for the last 2 years? Not at the beginning. Not while I was experimenting and trying to learn the technique. (After all the sports injuries and a few car accidents that weren’t my fault, my back continues to challenge me as well as some other issues.) ChiRunning is easy to learn but you have to rewire your brain a bit. It took me longer than most people but within a couple of months I’d made great progress.

I’m running a lot farther than I did 25 years ago and it takes a lot less effort than it did back then. And yes, I’m running without pain. Who’da thought?