Notes
All of us, hundreds or thousands runners put the miles in day in day out. We take hundreds, thousands and millions (slow and fast ) steps in our lives in the form of running. And most of us at most times do take for granted that all these steps that make the miles are naturally given. And there is no doubt whatsoever that all of us runners have the legs to run unless there is an injury which temporarily sets us back to reflect where we have gone wrong and then we try to protect those legs /physical body and take extreme care when taking those important steps. Then we naturally come to adjust, speed, pace, training techniques to reach the desired goals in our running lives. And then one day we recover and forget. This is usually the case as given time all or most injuries heal.
But Compartment Syndrome is different. It is not an injury. Every time a runner with CS takes the step . . .every single painful step becomes eternity. It is almost running in slow motion because is from the inside of the body. It is not external but internal. Today I became well aware that every step I took was a long distance by itself. It was almost being magnified as the pain, tightness and gravity pushed me to the ground. Today I realized how CS pushes my legs to the ground. I am normally a very light runner on my legs so much so (like my mother) they call me as light as a butterfly in terms of movement. I never feel heavy when I run and I can never hear the sound of my feet on the ground as it is almost a feeling of flying rather than running. Well today I was not able to lift legs off the ground. I could not believe how on earth my body could not lift the legs off the ground. As a result of this on many occasions I caught myself dragging the soles of my feet to the ground. Almost like scraping the surface and just about to stumble. Of course I had this before with CS but today I became consciously aware of how difficult and how much effort I put for every step of the way. So, I adjusted the core of the body accordingly to help the body save energy by using less effort. Body form helps but again legs struggle.
So all in all this was another painful run indeed. But I am grateful I was allowed to run. One thing is for sure I do not want to quit running no matter what will happen. I embrace every painful step of the way and I value every step I do. Maybe one day I can look back and say that I managed once again to fight and beat this condition. Maybe some day I will break free and fly again like a butterfly.
Today I added another running category in my list . . . "TOUGH RUN" as there is no longer such a thing as an easy run. I felt that the term "Easy Run" does no longer describe the way my running goes at the present times.