Once a Runner...

I started running my junior year of high school. I fell in love with it. It was something I owned, I loved, and I was happy about. It was a missing part of me that was finally found. I have always been athletic - I played lacrosse and field hockey in high school along with a multitude of other sports, but something was always missing.
When I ran it was like nothing else in the world mattered. I could be in a good or bad mood, tired or energetic, quiet or loud, by my house in NJ or in the desert of Arizona - running was my peace my home.
I, not to brag, was actually pretty good at running. I would love to say that I was the best, but that was not the case, I was just above average. And this above average runner made it out of high school and on to Brigham Young University’s cross country and track and field team. I was running with the best. It was awesome. The team were my best friends, and also my family. They taught me so much about running, life, and also showed forth my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
In 2002 I was hit hard with an injury that no one knew a lot about and it was overlooked multiple times by many medical professionals. It was not until I traveled home to NJ that a doctor was able to diagnose me with a torn anti tibular tendon, that needed replacement and reconstruction of my foot nerves and joints. WOW! It was a shock. The doctors were uncertain if I would even walk again, let alone run....
Beating the odds was a part of my runner mentality. Oh I was so going to run again...I was going to walk...I was going to go back to BYU...and I was going to prove to the doctors that I was strong.
After 9 months of therapy, wheelchairs, crutches, walking boots, two types of casts, 4 screws, a metal plate, 40 staples, and over 200 stitches, and a new scar - I walked away from NJ and came back to BYU. I finished school, started teaching 6th grade, and was able to work out at a gym each morning...but...there was still that nagging feeling of...can I run?
Running...it involves not only your feet but all of your muscles. So even though my foot was kinda back together, my other body part were not so “recovered”. So I started with baby steps, one mile once a week. Okay...done...two miles, three miles, four miles, you get the point. Then I would get hurt...somewhere on my body...it would either be my back, or my achilles tendons. So I figured, just do the gym, no running. As a teacher I thought - I would rather teach walking than in a wheelchair. So for about 18 months I didn’t think about running, well, no that is a lie, I didn’t run....
Then I met my husband, William Strong, he is just the missing piece to my life. He makes me feel like a million dollars, and is the most caring person in the world. I would tell him about running, but never showed him. So I thought, while I was in Riverside, CA for his family reunion this summer I can run while I am there. It would be so fun! So that is what I did. I ran 6 miles on the Monday before we left for Disneyland, and then another 5 miles the next day. HA HA...no the brightest idea in the world. I hurt, I have not hurt like I did that Wednesday in Disneyland since my surgery. Will’s family are so caring, and they didn’t realize that I am so stubborn. They got me a wheelchair for the next two days, which I knew I needed, but come on...who wants to sit in a wheelchair while at the “happiest place on Earth.” It was necessary and actually great on my very swollen left foot. The best part was that we got to go in front of a lot of lines at Disneyland, which Will’s Nephews, Andrew and Michael, liked a lot. Brooklyn his niece also enjoyed being my passenger...and I enjoyed having her as my passenger, she made me look good.
So I was once a runner...I now know that my running days are over...it is a hard reality...and if I think about it to much it does make me upset...but I have a family that loves me, and I love them and I want to be healthy to see all of my nieces and nephews grow up...and who knows maybe I will be watching them or my own children run someday.