“Injured” – not my favorite word in the English language. Particularly when it applies to me.
“Rest” – not my pick for the Top 10 ways to obey God.
But here I am, injured and exhorted to rest.
You only get one knee and there are many marathons. Rest days are as important as long running days. Get your rest! You can afford to take some time off at this point in your training.
Yes, yes I know wiser-than-me runners.
It was actually good timing because Brian is out of town for 7 days and Calista had a raging fever all weekend anyhow. I couldn’t go anywhere!
Last week I was finishing my 8 miles on the Lakewalk by Lake Superior, sun in my face (that was back when the thermometer was reading 60’s and 70’s) and something just didn’t feel good in my right knee. All day long, I was sore and stiff. By the next day I couldn’t straighten it out without pain. Stairs made me cringe.
I jumped in the pool and took a few days off. Then I saw Malcolm.
Now, a word here about Malcolm. One doesn’t hang out at the Y with fierce sweaty folks without hearing about injuries. Torn ACL’s on the mountains while skiing on spring break. Knee surgeries. Regular wear and tear. Falling off a Bosu (oh wait, that was me 18 months ago…) And soon after hearing others talk about injuries, one starts to hear the name “Malcolm.” Miracle Malcolm.
When I shared last week about my knee, I swear 3 people told me to see Malcolm. It was like he was the fourth member of the healing Trinity.
So I finally called him Thursday and less than 24 hours later, I was stretching, laughing and running with Malcolm. To be honest, I had sweated the whole way there because I was scared he was about to tell me I had broken my knee and I was doomed to a life of swimming and walking. I was sweating because this guy was “famous” and frankly, I was sweating because I hate physical therapy. It has a tendency to be more physical than therapeutic.
So I ran with LightSpeed, a genius invention of Miracle Malcolm, watch here:
And his website:
And partnered with some crazy amounts of stretching, I felt like $1,000,000. Woot.
Today I ran on it again.
I am lighter than a feather…
But before running like an Olympian, what they don’t show in the video or in this picture is how you first get to throw on a pair of shorts that are more like hockey pants – breezers. They are thick like a wet suit. After those 5 lb shorts you get to velcro straps around your already enormous thighs plus velcro more straps up the side of your shorts, adding at least 15lbs. Some “light” speed. First they add 25 lbs of equipment then they strap you in with bungee cords to this metal contraption that makes you hope you didn’t over-hydrate.
As my friends Carrie and Angel were literally strapping me into this cage/bungee cord/velcro craziness, Angel called it the “40 shades of the Y.” Reservations about that movie aside, I laughed so hard. It was fitting.
I don’t even know how long that all took but the entire process I kept thinking oh my goodness. Why couldn’t I just ride out this injury and rest and leave this velcro LightSpeed to the real runners.
Then I kicked on the treadmill and did everything (well, almost everything) Malcolm told me to do and ran. Really ran, for the first time in 7 days without pain. Then I ran some more. Then I ran a bit faster. After 6 miles I decided to call it quits, even though my heart wanted to run all stinking morning.
Speaking of stinking: You don’t even want to imagine how those shorts smelled when I took them off. They wash those things, right Carrie?
Well, I stretched and talked with yet another Y friend who asked how my knee was doing (thanks friends!!!) and headed down the stairs.
The first step I took I gasped. An acquaintance was next to me and she asked “what happened?!” I said, “My knee hasn’t felt this good for weeks! It doesn’t hurt at all going down the stairs! That Light Speed is like Jesus on bungee cords!”
So thank you Malcolm, my friends at the Y and even those stinky shorts.
Thank you Jesus for making rest one of the 10 Commandments, even though I hate it, rest is good for me. But also thank You for making our bodies able to recover, heal and do things we never dreamed we could.
“Let us run the race marked out for us with perseverance, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith.” Hebrews 12
“Connecting” with joy is my passion. Thanks for trusting. Next time you really need to try out the new shorts, please. Life is filled with unexpected encounters and events.
The verse you quoted at the very end of your blog has been my favorite verse since I was 12 years old. Love to you, the y people and our great God who gave us these bodies to run with!