Todd's Comeback Story

Here is the story of Todd's first big comeback run:

The air was cool last night and the weather was perfect. I decided it was time to give it a shot. As I stepped out he door it seemed strange to have this nervous excitement for a run I had done hundreds of times before. Countless times I had walked down my driveway and propped my leg on my car to stretch. However, this time was a little different.

Last fall I trained and completed my first marathon. During that time I experimented with different training runs and programs. I wanted to feel what it was like to push my body to the limit. I was squarely focused on my goals and benchmarks I had set. You see, I am a person driven by results and reaching for that next perceived level.

As I started down my street for the first time those nerves and butterflies stuck with me. I could feel my heel insert as a reminder of the injury that has sidelined me for over 5 months and the consistent thought of "When will this all come to a crashing stop again." As I took the right onto the main road leading out of our neighborhood I began feel the steady running rythm and breathing that only runners know.

Leading up to the marathon my goals were not overly ambitious, but I knew they would be challenging. With my heart and mind focused on those goals I set an ambitious training plan. Running became more about diligently sticking to the plan and accomplishing goals than the pure enjoyment of running. Shortly before the marathon the injury bug reared its ugly head.

I made my way onto the main roadway outside our neighborhood. This is a long and mainly flat section of road that eventually leads to the downtown portion of the small community I live. The cool night air felt good and I was starting to feel the sweat on my forehead. It was such a clear night with a light cool breeze. The night was one of those evenings you get in late spring and early fall where the breeze was cooler than the temperature. I felt great and I decided to just let my legs and breathing take me as far and as fast as they want to. I did not have a pace, time, set distance, or any kind of plan to follow. I simply was going to run for the pure enjoyment.

Two weeks before the marathon my foot gave out which led to my IT Band becoming inflamed. After a few doctors visits and therapy it was under control enough I made it through the marathon. I took a lengthy voluntary rest afterward and then 4 more months involuntarily to heal the injury. I realized in this down time I had lost most the joy of purely running. Training had become more of job and keeping the schedule. I enjoyed the races, but 90% of what I did was train.

I made the turn back home and started to feel the burn in my chest and legs. A few months ago I would have just been getting good and warm by this point. A few minutes later I stopped and took a breather for a minute. I wiped a little sweat away, dried my hands a little bit, and smiled. This was fun and it felt good. No time requirements, no running logs to fill out, no anticipation of what the training run is tomorrow, and no self implemented pressure. To top it off, the injury finally felt like it was coming around. It was a little sore, but that was secondary.

I made it back home and walked around for a while. I actually did better than I thought I would. It was nice to have a sense of satisfaction in just running to run. Looking ahead I know I will train for more races and one day hopefully run another marathon.

I still love reaching goals and accomplishing dreams. I also love watching others accomplish things they never thought they would. That will never change. One thing that has changed is I will never again lose site and let the pure enjoyment of running be overtaken by the task. Some days you will just have to gut out that tough run when all you want to do is stop. However, wrapped inside all that, is that part of you that still loves it, because you are a runner.