Give Yourself Time

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Sometimes you just have to wait… (and give things time)

So it was 06:20 in the morning, when I arrived at the gym. The only way that I’m gonna get myself back to where I was before my ankle injury is with some perseverance.

It’s been a difficult thing to do. Just over a year ago, I tore all the ligaments off of my right ankle, which for someone that has been running ultra marathons for the last couple of years was quite a tough thing to deal with. I couldn’t even walk. I was on crutches. It was hard to adapt.

Time to recover

Recovery from the injury has been hard too. It would have been great if, when the cast came off and I got rid of the crutches, I could’ve instantly started running again. That’s not happened.

I’m a year on, and the furthest I’ve been able to run is two and a half miles.

I’m building things back up slowly and I’m committed to running a half marathon on 1st October, so as hard as the training might be to get back to the point where my fitness was previously, I’m confident it’s going to happen.

Getting Active Again

Training can be tough sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t want it to hurt, but you do want to know that it’s made a difference.

My injury was such a tough experience. In hindsight I consider myself lucky because all I did was tear all the ligaments off my ankle, which, although still a pretty significant injury, could have been so much worse.

There are people who suffer injuries every day that are more significant than that, or who get diagnosed with illnesses that are more significant than that, so I don’t want to turn into some pity Neil thing, but it was still a hard thing to deal with.

Listening to my body

I don’t want to get that injury back, so I have to listen to my body, I have to pay attention to what my body is telling me. But by the same token, I don’t want to give up. It would be so easy for me to go, “Oh, well, Neil, you can’t run anymore. You’ve had an injury, you can’t run anymore,” but I know I can. I know I can, I just know that it’s gonna take time to get my body used to running again.

It is a bit like when I first started running back in 2012, I found it really, really tough to do, but it’s got easier, and easier, and easier over time, and actually it got easier very quickly.

This time, maybe, I’m being more cautious, I think that’s the issue. I think it’s me that’s holding me back. But it’s important for me to persevere, it’s important for me to live my life as an example, especially when it comes to my children. If I simply gave up on something important to me, what kind of message would that give them?

 

Be you, be focused, be bold…

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