Running Through the Learning Pain

Getting off the couch to run again after a break of almost 25 years.

It was the spring of 2012.  The snow in Calgary had finally receded, and I had a pair of Puma running shoes from the second hand store down the street.  I was ready to go for a run.  

The last time I had run with any consistency was back in highschool 25 years earlier. As I took a few steps, it truly felt like it.  I wasn't overweight, so I expected to spend a few months ramping into a more intense training regimen.  I was very wrong.  I knew enough to be cautious but I did not expect the kind of constant pain that accompanied most of my runs. I completely underestimated how much time and effort it would take for my muscles, ligaments, joints, tendons and bones to strengthen and adapt to the new demands. I began to wonder how on earth anybody ever enjoyed running.  The thought of 'runners high' was completely foreign through this period.  I struggled.  I hated it at times. I wanted to quit frequently.  On some days I did.  Mostly, I stuck with it.  I had good reasons, and they carried me when my drive would wane.

After months of working through the almost constant pain and discomfort during the summer of 2012, things finally started to come together.  I was running a few times each week. I frequently had to rest for several days for the pain in my shins, hips, back or feet was simply too great. Recovery runs or days off seemed more frequent than anything I'd call a real workout.  I signed up for a crossfit class to help prepare for a Spartan Race. It's good to have a goal or a race to focus on - and people around to push you.

In the midst of it all I learned how to change my stride, and purchased my first pair of real running shoes. The first time I ran in them I was almost giddy.  The simple experience was memorable.  I can remember exactly how it felt.  I wanted to keep running.

I became more aware of what I was eating, and fruits & vegetables appeared more frequently on the plate. I began to experiment with Intermittent Fasting as a method of health promotion and weight reduction.  It would be the end of 2012 before I committed to a regimen that would help me drop over 20 pounds of fat and mentally rebound.

By late summer I started running a 3K circuit with my 14 year old son to help him prepare for the upcoming cross country season. It had some hills, so I couldn't run the entire route from the house to the park and back without some short walking breaks. My initial time was just over 19 minutes.  

Just two-and-a-half months later I would turn up for the Thanksgiving Day 5K Fun run and post a respectable time of 20:53. 

9th Overall  |

20:53.6   |

4:11

|     20:51.2

|   #2311   |

Sean

YOUNG

Calgary, AB

M

M40-49

8/126

1/26

It was a fun race, and my effort was good enough to place 9th out of 126 male and female runners that day. Although the course may have been closer to 4.5K, as they lengthened it the following year, I was happy and surprised by how well I did for having training for such a relatively short number of months. I still felt out of place. I was not a runner. I was just somebody who showed up with a bit of fitness, and covered the course. In my mind, I didn't deserve the title yet.  It didn't matter though.  I was just glad to be running pain free.

Though I wasn't a runner in my mind, my competitive fire was stoked.  That season I learned that for me, participation isn't always enough.