All baseball fans are familiar with the dreaded disabled list. Your favorite team is rolling along and suddenly a key player goes out with an injury. A promising season for the team is made much more difficult with a player going on the disabled list for a period of time (see Jones, Chipper – 1994, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.) As a lifelong baseball fan, I’ve always looked at injuries from the impact on the team rather than the individual player. Having been fortunate to never have a true injury, my perspective always turned to the team. Since early June I have had plenty of time to gain the perspective of the individual player. Being sidelined from doing something you truly enjoy is certainly a challenge physically, but minor compared to the emotional challenge.
Eight weeks ago I had a MRI to confirm a stress fracture in my heel. The heel pain began after a Wednesday double (morning track workout and afternoon easy 6) the previous week. That week was the final buildup for the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race. I didn’t think much about the pain and finished off the week with 40+ miles Friday-Sunday, despite the heel feeling progressively worse during that time. In fact, Sunday morning I turned around before reaching the end of my street due to the pain only to convince myself that nothing was wrong and then labored through 10 miles. Probably not a good idea.
After taking a couple days off from running and talking with Daniel Ellis, my friend and consultant for all things running, it seemed that a visit to the doctor was the right course of action. A posterior calcaneal stress fracture was diagnosed, my first running injury of any significance. Doctor “gave” me a walking boot ($250…that’s almost 3 pairs of good running shoes) and the diagnosis was 5 weeks in the boot and 6 weeks of no weight bearing activity, although the timetable was quite fluid and the communication between doctor and patient proved to be quite frustrating throughout the entire process, at least for me.
So, of course, the Chattanooga Chattanooga
All said, the last eight weeks have been an exercise in humility and patience (appropriate given this blog title.) Having never previously had a broken/fractured bone, I’ve had to deal with the reality that injuries do happen and I need to be more mindful of rest and recovery during my training. Patience has also been essential, especially after the initial six weeks was up. I fully expected to be back running as before after six weeks, but it seems the heel is not quite ready for that yet. Frustrating, but reality.
On a positive note, the last eight weeks has also given me a chance to really seek God’s will in all aspects of my life. I will be the first to admit that there are times when balancing family, work, running, and life’s other pressures have caused my relationship with God to take a back seat. Perhaps this experience can serve as a reminder to keep my priorities where they should be, with Christ at the top.
Verse: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
