What you don’t know because you are not me –April 2008

What you don’t know because you are not me – March 2008

Do you ever worry that you would stop running? I did. I used to worry that I would stop, that I could not stop. I worried what would happen if I stopped and I worried what would happen if I could not stop. I also worried that if I stopped I would not start again. I worried that tapering before a marathon was like stopping.

Well, I stopped. Or, at least I have not run in about a month.

Three weeks ago I broke my toe (or at least banged it up pretty bad). Ya see, I fell in the toilet (NOT A TYPO, I FELL IN THE TOILET). There is a narrow window in my bathroom and the only way to open or close it is to stand on the toilet seat cover. I have been doing this for about 9 years now. Three weeks ago my right foot smashed through the lid and splashed into the water.

At first I expected to see the water turn red because my foot shredded the cover. I thought my foot was impaled by splintered plastic or at least lacerated by shards of former toilet seat cover. Lucky me, not a scratch. I washed of my leg and moved on with life. However, about a half hour later, I realized I could not move my big toe. I got out my frozen bag of corn and elevated my cold foot.

So it’s been three weeks, most of the swelling is gone and it hardly hurts to walk. But it still hurts to run. I am not going to push it. I am going to let it heal. But I have not gone this long with out running in 15 years. I am OK. I know I am going to run again because I yearn to run. When I see people running I want to tell them how lucky they are. I have stopped and I will start again. It is not the end of the world.