Dealing with Setbacks

So last Thursday, I'm walking out of text messaging a friend and walking out the door, and then ... CRASH.

I tumbled down some stairs and landed on my left ankle.

My first thought: "Did anyone see that?" ... Luckily enough, the coast was clear. My second thought: "My ankle really, really hurts."

I've had issues with my left ankle for as long as I can remember. I've sprained it about a million times since I was little, either from gymnastics as a child or running or walking or falling. The severity of the injury usually varies - sometimes it heals in a week and sometimes it takes months.

Because of all the damage,  mild ankle pain creeps up on me a lot while I run.  When I run, I always gauge my pain. I don't run in anything more than "moderately bad" pain.

Following Thursday's tumble, my ankle was really swollen, but mostly in one particular spot. There's nothing more terrifying than not knowing how severe your injury is. I have a half marathon in six weeks and 5ks for the next three weekends.

Luckily, I rested and iced my injury a lot over the weekend and I'm planning on taking it easy. However, I'm still also planning to do each and every race coming up unless the pain is anything more than moderately bad.

I find that the physical aspects of being injured are a lot easier to deal with than the emotional aspects. I can take care of a physical injury. But when you're hurt, the only thing you want to do is run. The only thing you can think about is your training. You dwell on what you won't be able to do.

So from here on out, I'm promising myself not to be upset at what my body cannot do because it is injured. I am going to take it easy and not be upset at myself for doing that. My health is important. I'm trying not to lose sight of that.

How do you deal with setbacks?