Old injuries are more of an annoyance than anything else

One thing that I've had to accept since I started to run is that I WILL be sore most of the time. I’m lucky that the running “God” have spared me any major injuries such as broken or sprained bones, MCL/ACL tears of the knee and this has allowed me to continue to run almost daily for the past 2 years.

The one recurring injury that I do suffer from, though, is something called Plantar Fasciitis. It's an overuse injury affecting the sole or flexor surface (plantar) of the foot. This means I have inflamed the tough, fibrous band of tissue (fascia) connecting my heel bone to the base of my toes.


I can usually tell when this injury is going to strike, and more often than not it’s because I need to get a new pair of shoes. Lately though, I think I’ve been having this injury because of the amount of mileage I’ve been putting in. The pain usually only lasts for a few hours and happens as soon as I wake up in the morning.

When I start to run the pain lasts for a few kilometers but then goes away (or maybe I just stop thinking about it). I’m confident that by the time my race occurs on the 18th I should be injury free.

It’s amazing how much the mind can play a role in injuries. The more I think about the pain the worse it seems to get. I think that’s why I love running with my music because I seem to get lost in my music and sometimes forget that I’m running at all. I really believe in the power of the mind/body and soul that we all possess. This inner strength can literally carry us to complete any task and it can make us forget about any pain/discomfort that we are feeling for as long as we need to. I’m not preaching about being reckless because there are obviously some injuries that you must pay attention to. My old football coach would always ask us if we were injured or hurt. If one of us was hurt then we could still play but if we were injured we couldn’t.

This is a question that I wrestle with quite a bit. I hate letting anything get in the way of my running and it takes quite a bit to knock me down to the point where I won't run. However, I've started to figure out that I don't need to push every run as hard as I used to and this has probably added years to my running. I want to ensure that I will still be running 20 years from now and the only way to increase this probabilty is to protect my investment!