Left Out
Sometimes that feeling of "missing out" causes us to rush into running when our bodies really need to rest and heal.
"But I feel left out!" Sophia wailed as I guided her into the house, leaving behind her older cousins and their friends playing in the ally next to the beach house. I can remember that feeling as a kid, when bedtime came and it was still light outside. It was agonizing to know that outside everyone was "doing something," while I lay in bed. I identified with Sophia's feeling of being left out, not just because of my childhood memory. Often times, when we are injured or sidelined from running we can feel left out.
Kara Goucher recently published an article on the Oiselle blog talking about her comeback from injury. She spent ten weeks rehabbing the stress fracture in her sacrum and pelvis and another ten weeks building her volume back up to get to a base where she can begin more specific training. Twenty weeks is a long time to be sidelined, especially for someone whose job is to race. I imagine that Goucher may have felt left out.
I'm no professional runner, my racing doesn't earn me a living. But when I'm not racing I feel left out. I've been sidelined off an on with various injuries, most recently popliteal tendonitis in my calf (which seems to be resolved at this point). I've taken time off from racing during pregnancy and postpartum, but probably not for as long as was best for my body. I think often I am impatient with injuries and the inability to run, train and race how I would like because I feel like I'm missing out.
It is much easier to feel "left out," thanks to social media. My Instagram and Facebook feed is filled with running friends training hard and setting PR's. And looking at their pictures: it's like I'm a kid all over again and everyone else is having fun in the ally at dusk, while I toss and turn in bed. I want to be in the mix: running, training, racing.
That feeling of missing out can be a dangerous impulse, it can prevent us from resting when we should. It can cause us to rush and push, when what we really need is to relax and heal. And we don't just feel this impulse in running. Often we rush into big decisions because we feel like if we don't make a move we will miss out.
We must put an offer on THAT house NOW, or we will miss out.
I have to say YES to that amazing opportunity or I will miss out.
I must or I will be left behind.
The rushing and the insisting can hurt us and the people around us.
In running, we can hurt ourselves: prolong injury and delay comebacks, only frustrating ourselves further. Clearly Goucher has a bigger picture in mind, long term goals that helped keep her focused during those 20 weeks. We could learn a thing or two from her: be willing to rest and heal. Set aside the feeling of missing out. Channel your frustration and disappointment into resolve and determination. Change what you can. Embrace what you cannot change.
Trust that you won't "miss out." I've found that when I take my time and embrace the season of life I am in, I am a lot better off than when I rush into things.
Have you ever felt "left out" due to an injury? Have you ever rushed into a decision because you thought you would miss out, only to learn later that if you had taken your time you would have been better off?
--Sarah
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