Pain
I’m not very in tune with physical pain. I traveled the midwest for a month with what turned out to be a severe case of falciparum malaria after I returned from Zimbabwe. It sucked, but I just figured that malaria would suck more.
I’ve been called “tough cookie” and “stubborn as a mule.” I’m both, but these traits really don’t serve me well. So I’m paying special attention to my injured knee, resting it, icing it, babying it, skipping close to 50 miles worth of training runs and virtually guaranteeing I’ll enter this race undertrained if I enter at all.
I’m pretty sure I will, but I really ought to see a doctor. I suppose my resistance to allopathic medicine is another entry altogether.
Anyway, I’m treating this all as a mindfulness exercise. It’s more important that I not limp around for weeks or months than it is for me to finish THIS marathon NEXT month. I can train again. I can walk some of it. It doesn’t really matter if I beat Oprah or not. I know I’m capable healthy, and I may or may not be healthy at that starting line. Depending on my level of ill health, I may need to consider not even showing up to the starting line, except as a volunteer.
I think I’ll be fine though.
