Getting Over the Disappointment of Not Running
Last Sunday was the Scottish Half Marathon, an event that I was very much looking forward to doing. It is a fabulous flat route starting at 11am in the morning (how civilised!) and at the end of summer, when I’d have a chance to do lots of training. Well, all the best laid plans…
I usually factor in buffering into a training programme, you know, for those weeks when your training doesn’t go to plan, and sets you back? Well, I even factored in potential Covid rehab time, which was fortunate, as I took a month off running to recover from the lurgy back in June. All was back on track by July, and I was enjoying to gorgeous running weather. Disaster struck after one of my long runs (on one of the hottest days of the year), my big toe nail decided it really wasn’t happy. At all. I’ve often had problems with my feet, but this was really very painful.
My podiatrist, David at Easter Road Podiatry recommended I not run. So I had another month off training. So frustrating. However, lots of strength, stretching and cycling meant the week before the event I certainly felt fit enough to do it, but the big toe was still problematic.
For the first time in my life, I withdrew from a sporting event at the last minute. It was a difficult decision as I was REALLY looking forward to the run, but it wasn’t worth hobbling myself for. Over the years I have trained hundreds of people to run events, but I’ve never personally had first-hand experience of what it’s like to pull out from an event due to injury. The disappointment is VERY real.
My way of dealing with it on the day was doubling my efforts as spouse support team - husband Andy was still going to run, so on the day I focused on helping him prepare. I positioned myself three miles to the end, cheering Andy (and the other runners) and handing over a cold bottle of Ribena to give him a burst of energy. Even fitness pug Coco was ‘helping’.
The lessons I’ve learnt from last weekend is:
Often, rest is best.
Disappointment doesn’t last long if you can distract yourself.
It’s good to make a plan for something fun to do on the day of when your event would’ve been (personally I rode my bike around a bit of the running route, when it was closed to motorised traffic before the runners set off, that was fun!).
Sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen. That’s why they’re unforeseen.
The 2023 Scottish Half Marathon is under a year away, I can look forward to that!
