Marathon

Injury Denial to Injury Recovery

So there was this other life. The one before my official ‘running life’ began – the first 24 years when I was an elite hockey player in juniors, college and professionally.  And the one that eventually ended in shattered NHL dreams, a bruised ego and more combined injuries than I could count on four hands.

The marathon training headmaster taps you on the shoulder. You look behind you. She’s wearing horn-rimmed glasses, her eyebrows raised and lips pursed. She’s holding a ruler. She’s judging you.
 
She’s judging you because it’s time to start training for your fall marathon and you’re still in CupcakeLand.
 

“You know that course was short, right?”

This was the fact my sometimes training partner and friend Mark was quick to point out after I excitedly told him about a personal record I ran in a local 5k race two summers ago.