Hard Lessons on Running Injuries

​​Today’s post is going to be a little serious, but full of advice. Main point being, I can’t stress enough how important it is to make sure and change your running shoes every 300-400 miles. I’ve had to learn the hard way, when I got an injury that sidelined me from running. When I first started running cross country, I didn’t know anything about what it was like and what exact equipment I needed for it. All I knew was that I needed sports bras, shorts, shirts, and a pair of shoes, that’s all. I didn’t know anything about what kind of shoes I needed, I just knew it was running shoes. When I first started running for the team I had a pair of old adidas shoes, they were sport shoes but not for running. When my coach at the time let me join the team and saw I was committed he told me to go out and buy long distance running shoes, so my dad being the sports guy that he is, took me to big 5. That’s where we got all our shoes for my sports. We picked out a pair of women’s running shoes, and that was that. I had been running in those shoes awhile, and changed them, twice. But I kept having to change running brands because I couldn’t find the one that worked best for me at the time.

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After a year of running with the team, I had finally started learning the hard way, Now I honestly never exactly kept count as to how many miles per week I was running, and how often I needed to change my shoes. I wouldn’t take it that seriously, because I didn’t think that I could get an injury just for that. Well, when it came around to my shins hurting, that’s how I would know I needed knew shoes, but the first time I didn’t know that was why. I just kept using them. I told my coach and he would just tell me the different ways to get rid of the pain, but little did we know it was getting worse because I didn’t tell him how long I’d had my shoes, eventually my shins got worse and I was limping badly when running, but even when walking, that’s when I knew it was bad. Because I could barely walk. I went to the doctor and they said it looked bad, so they sent me to a different doctor, who was a marathon runner himself, so I’d knew he knew how to take care of it. He ordered me x-rays, but in the x-rays, it wouldn’t come back that anything was wrong. But the doctor knew something was up. So, he ordered me to have a bone scan, they injected me with liquid and did some exams on me, that’s when they saw. Now, because I didn’t change my shoes, and because I kept using them even after the fact, my shins had gotten worse and worse. Well, what the tests showed was that my shins had gotten so bad that I had to shin fractures in both my legs. Which usually one is likely, but I had been racing and being stubborn after knowing how long I’d been hurting, that it got this bad, to having one in each leg.
My problem was, I bought new shoes, and because I bought new shoes, I kept thinking that my shin problem would go away, but I let it go on way too long that my shins were already hurt. And because I had new shoes, I figured I would keep running and even keep racing, now that’s what screwed me, because I was so stubborn and didn’t stop running for a bit. Now, after I found out about the fractures, I was immediately told to stop running. It would take half a year to heal maybe less if I’m lucky. So that whole time, I payed the price. At first there was no running at all, then I went from no running at all to the elliptical, and from the elliptical to the treadmill, and from then to running on the grass barefoot, and from there finally to running out. At least, when we changed coaches, we had the chance to run in the water when you got injured, that was another option. But that went on for half a year, I hated it. Seeing all my teammates racing and doing so great and rising to the top, while I’m stuck on the sideline cheering them on. Doing my workouts alone while everyone else runs out. And because of my shin problems, I always had to be careful that when I would have some pain in my shins, to pull back a tad, because shins are a big problem when it comes to my body. So just listen to your body, do what’s best or you’ll miss out on a lot of opportunities as well! Take care of yourself and change your shoes when you should! 

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