Run Softly and Carry "The Stick"

I have learned over the years that if you want a boat load of unsolicited advice, you should get pregnant or acquire a sports related injury. I chose the lesser of 2 evils (or did I?) and decided to injure my already-not-so-good knee. Ever since I developed issues with my knee, EVERYONE seems to know what I should or shouldn't do, the right drug to take, cream to try, the proper stretches, etc, etc, etc. Now, it's not that I mind the advice. After all, I want to run and I want to do it without making things worse. The problem is that I've gotten so much advice that it has become virtually impossible to sift thru it all to find a solution that works for me.

But last week, I was talking to the leader of our walking group at work and she told me about one of her clients who had experienced the same calf cramps when her mileage ramped up to double digits as well as knee pain. Someone recommended The Stick and after trying it out, her knee pain completely disappeared and she ran a marathon with NO CRAMPING! Well that single testimony was enough to convince me to give it a try. I used it for the 1st time after my run last nite. I am pleased to say that I'm experiencing very promising results -- still have knee pain but not as much! I was also able to pinpoint several trouble spots or "triggers" that I was able to work out. And I slept GREAT last nite - no achy, sore legs. Hmmmm.

I decided to use it BEFORE my run today and wow what a difference! I did notice some areas that I wished I had hit before hand but those spots were the 1st I worked on after my run. Boy do I feel great. I'm still a proponent of RICE but I'm convinced that the stick should be in every runners gear bag. My only regret is that I discovered it's benefits after injury when I truly believe had it been in my bag of tricks pre-injury, well, I simply would not have had this issue.

But the stick was not the only factor that led to my successful run today. Today I decided to engage in mindful running. I have blogged about this before but I can't say enough about this technique. If you find yourself running alone, as I did today, it's great. Usually I use my runs to "work thru" my problems, solve world hunger, calculate complex algebraic equations and think about what I'm going to wear to work tomorrow. Mindful running forces you to dismiss such mental pursuits and focus solely on your running - your stride, your breathing, everything! Everytime I could hear my footfalls, I would imagine that I was running on a cloud and tried to "tread lightly." For the most part, this was an easy task as during most of this run, my heavy breathing drowned out the sound of heavy feet but still I focused on just my running and not my "drama-saturated" life. The time flew by. After a 5 minute warmup, 25 minutes of running and a 5 minute cool down -- I felt almost as proud as if I had run a marathon. Ok, not quite that proud but proud none the less. Tomorrow is a rest day but thanks to the stick and my rekindled love for the run, I'm looking SO forward to Thursday because I...

Gotta run!
Lisa