AUGUST 19, 2012 : NO RUNNING... ONLY WALKING FOR ME

A picture says a thousand words.  

Sad...

This picture was taken by my fellow 83nean runner Ernie Badong inside Camp Aguinaldo last Sunday morning. I was sitting by the roadside in the parking area of the golf driving range, resting after more than an hour of walking. 1 hour and  20 minutes for 7 kilometers with the aid of a walking stick. I planned to run with my fellow runners of the Ateneo de Naga HS Batch 1983  that Sunday for a half marathon distance or more, as part of our preparations for the Penafrancia Marathon scheduled this September 8 in Naga City, the home of our alma mater. But it was not to be. My knee started to ache a couple days back and this time it was the right knee. My mobility was hampered again and I had to use a walking stick to move about on Saturday and Sunday.  

The ultrarunner evolving into an ultrawalker....The Bicolano Penguin morphing into the Bicolano guling guling...........How did this happen?

Impatience and disrespectful of one’s body.  That is the gist of the situation. I was injured late July with my left knee and the doctor suggested rest from running for at least 20 days. I abstained from running, my “jealous mistress”,  for 21 days and came August 19, I ran 14 kms in Camp Aguinaldo. I felt good about it but the morning after, the left knee started to ache again which caused me to favor it and put a lot more stress on my right leg and knee to do  much of the work in moving me around, especially on climbing up and down the stairs. Thus, my right knee weakened from sooo much overtime.  

It comes down to listening to my body. What is it telling me? For too long, I have been listening more to my mind or dare I say my ego.  After finishing the  Bataan Death March (BDM) 102Km Ultra in early March this year, by early April, I was again engaging in running regularly building up from a monthly mileage of 150 kms in April to 205 kms by June. I was singularly focused to preparing myself for the BDM 160Km Ultra scheduled for January 2013. To my mind, it was never too early to prepare for the grand daddy of Philippine ultra marathon events. By mid-July, I looked at my running log and I was on track to hitting a 250km mileage for the month. Then I had the injury to my left knee, diagnosed as lateral ligament sprain. Innocently, it was triggered by me accidentally and lightly hitting the wooden bed corner with my left knee.   

Two ortho doctors in Asian Hospital, Dr. Eric Morales and Dr. Godofredo Pineda recommended rest from running for a handful of weeks. To maintain my cardio endurance, the doctor suggested cross training activities like swimming, biking and treadmill. I did not follow their advice on the cross training part. My jealous mistress has sooo much of a polarizing pull on me that swimming, biking and especially treadmill are anathema to my charmed running life.

  

Perhaps this time, after an agonizing walk of 7 kilometers, I will now listen more intently to what my body is telling me. I need to respect it more. It is telling me to rest.  Whether I am sore from  overworked muscles or an injury, my body needs more energy to put toward repair, lengthening total recovery time. I also need to go back to the doctors and heed their advice.

And I need to be smiling again despite the gloomy situation. Smiling does help in the listening and healing.            

Starting to smile again