Running
“What are you going on about?” asked my grandpa as he stopped the car.
“Edwin, I think you’ve driven onto his foot,” replied my grandmother as she watched me point to my foot while silently hyperventilating.
The year was 1987 and this happened on an early Saturday morning in early October. It was also the day after my brother started IV feeding to build up his strength before he started chemotherapy–but more on that later. A lot of things changed that day for our family that day, but specifically for me, running became a whole lot more painful that day.
On this particular Saturday, my dad was off camping with my Boy Scout troop, training to become an adult leader. Dad had always been involved in my activities, from taking me to every soccer practice I ever had (1981-1989), so every soccer game, all Cub Scouts (and now Boy Scout) meetings. So, this was an oddity. If there were ever conflicts, my mom would take me, but like I said before, my brother started hit cancer treatments and she had to be home for him. To help out, my grandparents had offered to take me to my game.
Looking back, I feel a twinge of disappointment because this was supposed to be the “Championship Game” for my age group. I had been goalie for most of the time I played soccer and this season, I had only allowed 2 goals in 7 games–we were undefeated. As you can imagine, I look back now and wonder why the two people in my family who COULD go, chose not to, but that’s beside the point. I’d been wearing glasses for 2 years at that point and wasn’t allowed to wear them during the game (parents rule). When I stepped out of the car, I realized I’d forgotten to hand them to my grandmother, so I turned around to hand them to her. Unfortunately, my grandfather had already let his foot off the brake of his 1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and the car rolled up on my foot. I was STUNNED, to say the least.
At the time, the emergency room diagnosed a simple fracture of my heal and put me in a cast for 6 weeks. (Our team won the game without me, and my protege became the starter for the next 2 years) When I turned 40, my ankle surgeon told me that by looking at my scans, he believes that this incident partially tore a ligament in my ankle and that 2 years later–again playing soccer–I tore another one completely. That’s where this ties in to running:
Throughout the years, I’ve had countless people suggest that I run to stay in shape or lose weight. However, after those two incidents, running is much too painful for me. Because those ligaments were torn and nobody knew it (MRIs weren’t standard for this kind of thing in 1987–and I never even SAW an orthopedist until I was 30), my ankle was very unstable–until my surgery at 40. The running issue got so bad that in my junior year of high school, my PE teacher asked me to NOT run the mile because the clicking of my ankle made him ill. (When I lifted my foot, the ankle slipped out of joint and when the foot came back down, the ankle rather forcefully popped back in) Finally, at age 40 when I had a full reconstruction of the ankle, my surgeon told me running is out for good now.
Explaining all of this to EVERYONE over the years that have told me to just run or jog, has been exasperating. I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my adult life and though I have a very sedentary job, I’m not a lazy slouch. (Actually, by nature, I would be but I don’t allow myself to do so) My ankle (thanks to countless braces over the years) has rarely limited me from doing the things I love such as landscaping, home remodeling, hiking, etc. I may not be able to run 50 feet, but I can sure out work and out hike the best of them!
I don’t fault people for always suggesting running/jogging and applaud them if they do it for health and enjoyment, but it’s not for me. I set a daily goal of 15,000 steps a day for myself, even when I’m working and I think it helps a LOT! Over the years–even at my heaviest–my blood pressure is nearly perfect, my sugar is perfect, and my cholesterol is perfect as well (sometimes even on the low end).
To conclude, I’d like to recommend EVERYONE get active–but do something you love. For me, running is neither fun or physically comfortable, so I’ll just keep moving dirt around my back yard. Oh, and keep an eye out for grandpas driving big cars!