I went down today. I just felt pain and fell straight down to the ground. It’s much less dramatic than I am making it sound, but it really did hurt. This is my fourth season running track at Hanover College, and up to this year I never had so many injuries.
As a freshman, I always thought the seniors were being overly dramatic when they talked about the pain their bodies suffered after four years of running on a concrete track for indoor season then continuing the season outdoors.
They weren’t kidding at all. The phrases, “My body is falling apart” or “I feel so old” come out of my mouth constantly, and I am very aware of the changes my knees, back, quads and hamstrings have gone through these past four years.
I can straighten my legs for longer than 10 minutes without feeling pain and stretching has become a way of life.
Today, when I fell, it was because of an injury that happened at the very beginning of practice in January. I tweaked my hamstring just a bit and was out almost three weeks; I even had to miss the first meet. Cross training was practice, and the elliptical and I became the best of friends.
It was miserable not being able to run upstairs on the awful concrete track. I missed hanging out with the team during practice, and I felt condemned standing there on the elliptical only able to stare up at them as they ran.
What does make this getting hurt thing a little better are teammates who care. Today at dinner, several members came up to me and asked how I was doing, and made sure I was okay. It’s because of my team that I am proud to be a part of this program, and I can’t imagine being a member of another team at any other school.