The third exile
1 mins“My lower back is sore. My glutes are sore. My right quad & hamstring are cramping slightly. But oh.. it feels sooooo good!”
Much chuckling from my friends as I uttered these words following a 24k run.
I was coming off a non-running interlude of 6 weeks (brought upon by a freak bone contusion to the little right toe) so being able to do 24k without duress was a massive relief.
Now every regular runner hates sitting by the sidelines. And I’m not too different.
I moped, fretted, worried, and moped some more as the swollen toe turned various shades of mauve. Waited two weeks before dragging myself to a physiotherapist who pronounced the verdict and corrective action.
Considering this was my third (non-running) exile, I handled it with a fair bit of equanimity.
- Gee whiz! I have been a regular runner for a long time and it was just 6 weeks… soooo much to be grateful for!
- With all major parts of the body covered, it was finally the little toe’s turn
- No race in the immediate future
- It could have been worse (this never fails to cheer)
Since I’m projecting all this equanimity nonsense, I need to tell you that my previous two exiles were anything but Zen.
- March 2010: 3.5 months of nursing the L5-S1 slipped disc back to tender health
- December 2011: A relapse of the L5-S1 which forced me to abandon the 2012 edition of Mumbai Marathon but too stubborn to break my marathon-a-month streak