What’s The Big Deal?
Finally, we get to running!
Like I mentioned at the end of my last post, I believe that God stopped my power walking. I say this for two main reasons in that just don't really make sense otherwise.
It came out of nowhere. One day I was just walking one of my normal afternoon/evening loops and my left knee started acting up. There was no sharp pain or twisting or popping. It sprang up as the dull, behind-the-scenes type. I described it as that my knee felt like it was several different parts and it was chronically inflamed. I went to an orthopedic surgeon, had the X-ray and MRI done and nothing notable was found. I was diagnosed with petellofemoral syndrome, basically meaning that my knee was chronicly overused. I did PT, changed my shoes and even got specialized, fitted insoles (orthotics) and none of them led to any improvements.
I could not walk without pain, but I could run. Yup, you read right. The several PT's and orthopedics I went to over the next couple years were equally dumbfounded. I genuinely did not have knee pain for the first year and a half that I ran- but power walking? I got all the petellofemoral issues.
Okay God, I hear you. Power walking is out. Running it is? Wait I guess I'm not asking yet, I'm just going to do it.
My start to running began as a supplement to walking. What I mean is that because I could no longer power walk, I could not do the walks I always did in the same amount of time as before, and so, in came running. After all, I did not want anyone to know that I was still going for the same length walks because they would have told me that it didn't make sense to continue doing so given the pain I experienced (and to that, present-day me says they definitely would have been right... but I digress).
You might be thinking 'okay, big deal. what is so monumental about switching from power walking to running anyway? Like the speed difference can't be that significant'. You're so right it wasn't. However, like I've alluded to, I’m a very routine person and I grew up in a small-town where everyone knows everything about you, particularly if you stand out. I had literally at least 10 people a day who would say something like one of the following:
"I see you all over! How many miles do you walk a day?"
"I see you walk by my house all the time. Where do you live?!"
"You're an inspiration. I need to walk more."
"I saw you running by the other day" -before I switched from power walking...wasn’t actually running at the time but whatever
"I see you all the time! Are you training for something??"
So... while a switch to running may not seem like a big deal, it was for me AND for the townspeople.
For me, the change in routine came with its struggles as I initially felt like I was underachieving; and if we look at it plainly in a way I was. After all, I was no longer walking the 20-25 miles a day. I could still bike, but that just didn’t do enough for me. Thankfully this struggle with the routine change did not last more than a couple weeks as I realized that I actually was more out of breath after running 6 miles than I had been after power walking 20.
The townies were not so easily swayed. One too many people actually made it a point to tell me OR my mom that they had seen me running and on numerous occasions asked me why I wasn’t walking.
Now, I had to preface with that information because what comes next sounds ridiculous. To try and avoid people knowing that I did some running and as I adjusted to it myself, I would do at least one of the following precautionary measures:
Run until I saw a car in the distance and would then immediately start walking
Run in the dark so they maybe wouldn’t know it was me
Only run when I wasn’t in Cortland or the immediately surrounding area
Use Strava for logging purposes, but save it as private so no one else could ever see
Yeah, it’s was complicated as it sounds. And yet, I found out that I loved it. Yes, for the first year and a half that I ran, some of the reasons I loved it were unhealthy. I loved that it was a great way to burn a lot of calories in much less time. I liked that it gave the impression that I had gotten mentally healthier because the time I spent exercising went down significantly.
However, I also enjoyed it because of the way I felt after a run- both physically and mentally. In some ways, it brought me back to the high-school version of me that I had abandoned and buried in March 2020. So, while I started out running more causal and secretive, the more I did it and enjoyed it, the harder of a secret it became to keep.
Hence, in November 2023, I made my debut, so to speak, and ran the thanksgiving road race hosted at SUNY Cortland. I also, surprisingly to myself, told my mom that I was going to do it and asked her to go.
I had no idea I would win the fastest girl award- in fact I was scared I would be the slowest- but it lit something in me that persists to present day. It will sound cliche, but I truly felt God’s pleasure as I ran, even with the strong nausea.
It was a kind of turning point for me. I still didn’t have a great relationship with running when it came to why I did it, but at least it didn’t bother me as much when a townie said they saw me running. I mean it definitely didn’t hurt that I knew I was graduating college in December and would be trading out Cortland, NY for Denver, CO!
Still, February 20th, 2024 could not come fast enough. When it finally arrived, and after what felt like an eternity of travel with my boy Sunset, (Sunny for short) I had made it to my new home for the next 11 months.
As I got out of the car, a girl was walking towards me in the parking lot of the apartment complex. She came over, introduced herself, and asked if I like to run.
I wouldn’t have believed it then if someone told me that not only would be become good friends but that less than 3 months later we would run our first marathon.
~Another day, another slay~
Lydia
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