Okay, so you’re beginning to age
out of running – knees hurt, back, neck … and God knows, your feet.
Doc says, spouse says, man, even
your dog says, Stop running.
I mean Novak Djokovic, of all
people, is taking a year off playing tennis due to injury. And he’s only 30
years old.
My advice: If a doctor is
leaning toward having you stop, change doctors.
That’s what I’ve done. My wife
M, who truth be told is a firm believer in this run-every-other-day thing of
mine, recommended her podiatrist to me. And it couldn’t have worked out better.
It’s called sports medicine, and
the pros who practice it are experts in finding a way for you to keep doing
what you do. In my case, running an average of twenty miles a week, forty
during training months.
Since I started this blog in
2010, there’s been a long list of ailments: hamstrings, a blown knee, foot
neuromas and a killer heel. The sore heel came back a month ago, but not like
it was before, so I went to M’s doctor to see what he could do.
He watched me run, is what he
did. First without orthotics, then with. I see a profound difference in your
gait, he says. … I’ll tell you what, he goes on, wear the orthotics when you
run and do this stretching exercise.
Doc schooled me on the best way
to do the exercise. (I guarantee you, you’re not getting the best out of the
stretches you’re doing … I know I wasn’t until I was being monitored by my
sports doc.)
Saturday (July 29) will mark the
second week since seeing him, and I’ve done just as he said, and you know what,
I’m running 5, 6, 7 miles without a lick of heel pain.
And so it goes. Running for your
life. Believe it; it can be done.
Next: Running for Your Life: Cities of Gold
