Minor injury, major perspective

The body does heal. Imagine that. As I quickly recover from the groin injury I wrote about last week, I’m reminded of my body’s ability to mend itself — and ultimately keep my training and the big picture goals in tact.

As I found myself struggling a bit over the past couple of weeks, dealing with a nagging groin injury, I came to understand this is merely one small part of a long journey. I thought of women like Krista DuChene who just recently hit the marathon qualifying time for the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio.

She did that just one year after fracturing her femur, a major injury which required surgery and months of rehab. The 38-year-old mother of two certainly must have had her struggles and moments of doubt sitting in her hospital bed, wondering when she would be able to run again and how she was going to get her body in shape to compete for the Olympic standard, which was her goal prior to the injury.

First physio a success, kind of; crutches to use commode then fainted my way back into bed! #beatsthebedpan pic.twitter.com/QZTG2OTTWR

— Krista DuChene (@kristaduchene) April 28, 2014

I wonder if she drew upon her years playing hockey during her recovery. I’ve found myself drawing on mine, not to compare the severity of the injuries — not even close – but it’s somewhat relatable.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, I played university-level hockey during my time at Concordia. I actually think Krista and I may have played against one another while she was at Guelph and I at Concordia.

Anyways, back to the point: over the past couple of weeks, I’ve found myself recalling minor injuries throughout my hockey career. I didn’t get injured often, but I do recall a pulled groin here and there. Then there were the concussions, major injuries.

From what I remember I went through these minor injuries with quite a bit of ease. I didn’t get worked up, or start doubting what I was capable of doing, or feel my goals were being threatened. It was simply something I knew I had to deal with. I dealt with them and I kept going. Not once did a minor injury play a role in preventing me from achieving my goals.

Why would running be different?

With hockey there was a bigger picture to focus on. Every practice was important, every workout equally, but it’s the larger goals which ultimately mattered and kept the small things in perspective. I knew I was doing everything possible to reach my goals. That gave me a great deal of confidence and resilience. I can see the same happening with running.

I’ve surrounded myself with supportive and knowledgeable people. I simply have to trust, engage the process and go for it!